In June 1963, a Buddhist monk named Thích Quảng Đức sat down on a cushion at a busy intersection of a road in Saigon, and, adopting the lotus position, began to meditate.
Two other monks removed a 5 gallon can of petrol from the boot of a car nearby and doused him from head to foot. By this time a crowd had gathered, forming a circle with Thích Quảng Đức in the middle. Many of them, like him, had been protesting against the persecution of Buddhists by the Catholic minority government.
Thích Quảng Đức rotated a string of wooden prayer beads, said a short invocation, and lit a match. The flames quickly engulfed him, and the entire crowd watched on as he burned to death. Amidst the cries and sobs and gasps of horror, Thích Quảng Đức didn’t move a muscle, didn’t utter a sound.
How is this possible?
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Humans find great meaning in transcending our physical and mental limitations and tapping into enhanced states of consciousness. When we do so we are expressing an impulse that has been inherent in the evolutionary process from the big bang onwards. From cosmological, to biological, to cultural evol…
