Centre (I.M.C.) was opened in Rangoon, two miles north of the Shwedagon Pagoda. Here many Burmese and foreign students received instruction in the Dhamma from Ba Khin. He was also active in the planning for the Sixth Buddhist Council known as Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana (Sixth Recitation) which was held in 1954–56 in Yangon. Ba Khin finally retired from his outstanding career in government service in 1967. From that time, until his premature death in 1971 stemming from complications of surgery, he stayed at I.M.C. in Burma, teaching Vipassana. Legacy Ba Khin became a notable teacher of vipassanā meditation. After his death, some of his students established meditation centers in his tradition in various countries. There are six International Meditation Centres organized by the Burmese Buddhist branch of students in the Ba Khin Tradition. Each of these centres in the West is a direct offshoot of the International Meditation Centre of Rangoon, Burma, which was founded by Ba Khin. These centres are guided by his disciple Mya Thwin, known to her followers as Mother Sayamagyi. Another student of Ba Khin is S. N. Goenka. There are over two hundred centres of Vipassana meditation as taught by S. N. Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, located in various countries throughout the world. Worldwide influence It was Ba Khin's wish that the technique, long lost in India, could again return to its country of origin, and from there, spread throughout the world. Ba Khin made a determined effort to travel to the west to teach Vipassana there. Due to travel restriction in place at that time, he was never able to personally fulfill his wish. When he realized his time was running out, he commissioned the following foreign students and entrusted them with teaching Vipassana in their respective countries. Authorized by a letter dated April 23, 1969: 1. Dr Leon Wright, PhD., Professor of Religion, Washington, D.C., U.S.A. 2. Mr. Robert H. Hover, La Mirada, California, U.S.A. 3. Mrs. Ruth Denison, Hollywood, California, U.S.A. (to teach women only). 4. Mrs. Forella Landie, British Columbia, Canada (to teach women only). 5. Mr. John Earl Coleman, Maidenhead, Berks., U.K. 6. Mr. J. Van Amersfoort, The Hague, The Netherlands. Authorized separately on June 20, 1969, after being informally authorized in July 1967 when a ten-day meditation course was conducted for the Hindu community in Mandalay with guidance coming from Sayagyi in Rangoon: 7. Mr.