followers spent $1 million developing the monastery, building a meditation hall for 1,800 people. The government support initially given to his supporters is now believed to have been a ploy to get Vietnam off the US State Department's Religious Freedom blacklist, improve chances of entry into the World Trade Organization, and increase foreign investment. In 2008, during an interview in Italian television, Nhất Hạnh made some statements regarding the Dalai Lama that his followers claim upset Chinese officials, who in turn put pressure on the Vietnamese government. The chairman of Vietnam's national Committee on Religious Affairs sent a letter that accused Nhat Hanh's organization of publishing false information about Vietnam on its website. It was written that the posted information misrepresented Vietnam's policies on religion and could undermine national unity. The chairman requested that Nhất Hạnh's followers leave Bat Nha. The letter also stated that Abbot Duc Nghi wanted them to leave. "Duc Nghi is breaking a vow that he made to us... We have videotapes of him inviting us to turn the monastery into a place for worship in the Plum Village tradition, even after he dies — life after life. Nobody can go against that wish," said Brother Phap Kham. In September and October 2009, a standoff developed, which ended when authorities cut the power, and followed up with police raids augmented by mobs assembled through gang contacts. The attackers used sticks and hammers to break in and dragged off hundreds of monks and nuns. "Senior monks were dragged like animals out of their rooms, then left sitting in the rain until police dragged them to the taxis where ‘black society’ bad guys pushed them into cars," a villager said in a phone interview. Two senior monks had their IDs taken and were put under house arrest without charges in their home towns. Religious approach and influence Nhất Hạnh combined a variety of teachings of Early Buddhist schools, Mahayana Buddhist traditions of Yogācāra and Zen, and ideas from Western psychology to teach mindfulness of breathing and the four foundations of mindfulness, offering a modern perspective on meditation practice. His presentation of the Prajnaparamita in terms of "interbeing" has doctrinal antecedents in the Huayan school of thought, which "is often said to provide a philosophical foundation" for Zen. Nhất Hạnh completed new English and Vietnamese translations of the Heart Sutra in September 2014. In a letter to his students,