Ajumma's Journal: Four Rivers Project

The last time I heard of a Buddhist practising self-immolation to protest against something was actually the first modern or at least the most-publicised suicide by fire committed by a Vietnamese monk protesting against the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem on 11 June, 1963. Now Venerable Munsu who died on Monday, 31st May, joins a list of those who have chosen to fight various causes, political or non-political, by setting themselves aflame. Ven. Munsu ( and here I hesitate to use a pronoun because one website identifies Munsu as female while others assume the opposite) may well be the third South Korean in modern times to do this after Jeon Tae-il in 1970 who was protesting against unfair labour laws and Heo Se-uk, more recently in 2007, who was against the Free Trade Agreement signed between South Korea and the USA.

My feelings of dismay and revulsion are mixed with curiosity. What drives a person to do such things? How would the President respond to the suicide note which apparently reads: “The Lee Myung-bak administration must stop its four rivers restoration project immediately, eradicate corruption and do its best for poor and underprivileged people instead of the rich”? What will be the long-term impact, if any, of her/his suicide?

I have typed the word "sacrifice" but have backtracked and deleted it in this text because I'm not sure if using that word connotes something positive that would glamourise self-immolation,even though some Buddhists may have a different perspective on the value of life. In a society which already has a high suicide rate, one more death is one too many, even though it's not motivated by financial woes or personal despair. Today, reading the news about Ven. Munsu, I feel diminished.