SOUTH VIET NAM THE HEART OF QUANG DUC HEADS BOWED, PALMS PRESSED 
TOGETHER IN PRAYER, THOUSANDS OF BUDDHISTS FILED QUIETLY THROUGH SAIGON'S XA 
LOI PAGODA LAST WEEK TO WITNESS WHAT MOST OF THEM BELIEVED 
TO BE A MIRACLE . AMID THE FRAGRANCE OF INCENSE-BURNING REEDS, 
YELLOWROBED PRIESTS CHANTED FROM SUNRISE TO MIDNIGHT, LAYMEN GAZED IN AWE, 
AND WEEPING WOMEN HELD CHILDREN UP TO SEE IT ALL . 
ON THE ALTAR, INSIDE A CRYSTAL URN, WHICH IN TURN WAS 
ENCASED IN A BOUQUETFLANKED GLASS CHEST, LAY THE OBJECT OF THEIR 
REVERENCE A CHARRED PIECE OF FLESH . UNDER IT A HAND-LETTERED 
SIGN ANNOUNCED : " THE ETERNAL HEAT OF HIGH PRIEST QUANG 
DUC . " TWO WEEKS EARLIER, TO DRAMATIZE THE BUDDHIST MAJORITY'S 
FIGHT FOR GREATER RELIGIOUS FREEDOM UNDER SOUTH VIET NAM'S ROMAN CATHOLIC 
PRESIDENT NGO DINH DIEM, A 73-YEAR-OLD BUDDHIST MONK NAMED THICH QUANG 
DUC HAD SPECTACULARLY SET HIMSELF AFIRE IN A SAIGON STREET . 
LATER THE MARTYR'S SCORCHED REMAINS WERE ASSIGNED TO FINAL CREMATION IN 
A RICE FIELD OUTSIDE THE CAPITAL . BUT, AS THE PRIESTS 
TOLD IT, WHEN THE OLD MAN'S ASHES WERE REMOVED FROM THE 
OVEN, HIS HEART EMERGED MIRACULOUSLY UNDESTROYED OBVIOUSLY THE SUPERNATURAL WORK OF 
BUDDHA . IMMEDIATELY, HIS FELLOW MONKS PROCLAIMED QUANG DUC A SAINT 
. SKEPTICS SUGGESTED THE QUANG DUC'S HEART HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM 
THE BODY BEFORE CREMATION, OR HAD BEEN INJECTED WITH A FIRE-RESISTING 
FLUID . CERTAINLY THE PHENOMENON WAS FAR FROM ORIGINAL ; DOWN 
THROUGH THE AGES, IN LEGEND AND FACT, THE HEARTS OF HEROIC 
FIGURES HAVE MORE THAN ONCE WITHSTOOD THE FLAMES. BUT THE " 
MIRACLE " SERVES THE BUDDHISTS IN THEIR TWO-MONTH-OLD WAR WITH DIEM 
. THANKS PARTLY TO PRESSURE FROM THE U.S., WHICH FEARS THAT 
MASSIVE BUDDHIST DISAFFECTION COULD WRECK SOUTH VIET NAM'S LONG, VITAL CAMPAIGN 
AGAINST THE COMMUNISTS, THE DIEM GOVERNMENT SIGNED A COMPROMISE AGREEING TO 
LET THE BUDDHISTS FLY THEIR OWN FLAG AND PROMISING TO EASE 
ANTI-BUDDHIST DISCRIMINATION E REGIME FAILS TO SHOW GOOD FAITH, THE BUDDHISTS 
VOW, THEY WILL START NEW DEMONSTRATIONS AND THEY ARE COUNTING ON 
THE SYMBOL OF QUANG DUC'S DURABLE HEART TO HELP KEEP THE 
FAITHFUL INSPIRED . WHEN GAUTAMA BUDDHA'S BODY WAS CREMATED, TRADITION HAS 
IT, SOME PARTS OF IT FAILED TO BURN . JOAN OF 
ARC'S HEART IS SAID TO HAVE SURVIVED HER BURNING AT THE 
STAKE AND BEEN THROWN INTO THE SEINE . WHEN PERCY BYSSHE 
SHELLEY DROWNED OFF ITALY IN 1822, THREE LITERARY FRIENDS LORD BYRON, 
EDWARD JOHN TRELAWNY AND LEIGH HUNT CREMATED THE CORPSE ON A 
PYRE OF DRIFTWOOD . THE JOB ALMOST DONE, TRELAWNY SUDDENLY THRUST 
IN HIS ARM AND SNATCHED OUT THE HEART, WHICH, ALTHOUGH FIERY 
HOT, WAS STRANGELY UNCONSUMED . IN OSCAR WILDE'S FAIRY TALE, THE 
HAPPY PRINCE, THE STATUE'S BROKEN HEART FAILS TO MELT IN THE 
FURNACE . 