On the surface, the proximate reasons for these protests have been well understood since they began: in 1963, groups of politically active Buddhist monks, led by a faction from Huế were upset over the Diệm administrations heavy-handed enforcement of a restriction on sectarian flags, and over Diệm’s insensitivity to Buddhist concerns. Along with the most iconic image of Thích Quảng Đức’s June 1963 self-immolation in protest of Ngô Đình Diệm’s Buddhist policy, images of marches and protest meditations in Saigon abound. Images of Buddhist protest are an enduring part of the collective memory of the Second Indochina War.