organized medical, educational and agricultural facilities in rural Vietnam during the war. Nhất Hạnh was initially given substantial autonomy to run the SYSS, which was initially part of Vạn Hạnh University. In April 1966, the Vạn Hạnh Students’ Union under the presidency of Phượng issued a "Call for Peace". Vice Chancellor Thích Minh Châu dissolved the students' union and removed the SYSS from the university's auspices. The Order of Interbeing Nhất Hạnh created the Order of Interbeing (), a monastic and lay group, between 1964 and 1966. He headed this group, teaching the Five Mindfulness Trainings and the Fourteen Mindfulness Trainings. Nhất Hạnh established the Order of Interbeing from a selection of six SYSS board members, three men and three women, who took a vow to practice the Fourteen Precepts of Engaged Buddhism. He added a seventh member in 1981. In 1967, Nhat Chi Mai, one of the first six Order of Interbeing members, lit herself on fire in front of the Tu Nghiem Pagoda in Saigon as a peace protest after calling for an end to the Vietnam War. On several occasions, Nhất Hạnh explained to Westerners that Thích Quảng Đức and other Vietnamese Buddhist monks who self-immolated during the Vietnam war did not perform acts of suicide; rather, their acts were, in his words, aimed "at moving the hearts of the oppressors, and at calling the attention of the world to the suffering endured then by the Vietnamese." The Order of Interbeing expanded into an international community of laypeople and monastics focused on "mindfulness practice, ethical behavior, and compassionate action in society." By 2017, the group had grown to include thousands known to recite the Fourteen Precepts. During the Vietnam War Vạn Hạnh University was taken over by one of the chancellors, who wished to sever ties with Nhất Hạnh and the SYSS, accusing Chân Không of being a communist. Thereafter the SYSS struggled to raise funds and faced attacks on its members. It persisted in its relief efforts without taking sides in the conflict. Nhất Hạnh returned to the U.S. in 1966 to lead a symposium in Vietnamese Buddhism at Cornell University and continue his work for peace. He was invited by Professor George McTurnan Kahin, also of Cornell and a U.S. government foreign policy consultant, to participate on a forum on U.S. policy in Vietnam. On 1 June, Nhất Hạnh released a five-point proposal addressed to