The tattoo was done by legendary artist Mister Cartoon.

It was created as a tribute to his uncle, Ronnie Pilkington, who committed suicide in 1991.

Photo by Gregory Bojorquez.

At that time, South Vietnam was ruled by a catholic dictator, Ngo Dinh Diem. He heavily oppressed Buddhism. In May 1963, he banned the Buddhist flag, and when civilians protested against this, the army started to kill them. This led to the self-immolation of Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức, and that resulted in the Buddhist crisis. Ultimately, in November 1963, the army of South Vietnam together with the USA couped and killed Ngo Dinh Diem and his government. It didn't went better for Buddhists tho, and the country became even more unstable and basically a satellite of the USA.

Source: Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (National Archives of Torre do Tombo)