[Buddha-l] Extreme practice

[Dan Lusthaus]

Herman,

I think you are missing my point. I wasn't asking us to dig through the
various "versions" and decide amongst ourselves what "really" happened, and
what his "real" motives were. You will note, e.g., that the note you cite
(which I'm sure he wrote in Vietnamese) expresses -- in vague terms
("religious equality") -- a motive consistent with what I initially stated,
so it is neither your memory and understanding of the event, nor mine that
is at issue. The issue is how well it was understood at the time. Of course
persecuted Buddhists at the time understood his gesture and those who
followed his example certainly drew on his words (" call the venerables,
reverends, members of the sangha and the lay Buddhists to organise in
solidarity to make sacrifices to protect Buddhism") as reason for their own
immolations.

Diem's fall from power had many other factors, including that relations
between him and the US had become strained, so strained that his group was
initially one of the primary suspects favored by the conspiracy theorists on
who killed Kennedy. And the US was not displeased with him because of his
policy concerning Buddhists.

That even this short discussion quickly brought alternate interpretations of
the event to the fore shows that it is still a relatively inchoate act. Was
it chutzpa-dik or a futile gesture? If it is meaningful for you, then it was
not futile. This seems to be one of your treasured sacred cows, and there is
no reason to undermine that here. The question of how effective this form of
"political" expression is remains real, nonetheless, and there we may have
different views.

Dan