The fourteen precepts came out of a war. Thich Nhat Hanh formulated them in Vietnam in the 1960s for the Order of Interbeing, and they read as an attempt to make Buddhist ethics operational under conditions where staying out of politics was itself a position. The first three are about doctrine — do not be idolatrous about any teaching, including Buddhist ones; do not think your current knowledge is final; do not force views on anyone. Then they turn outward: do not avoid contact with suffering, do not accumulate wealth while millions are hungry, do not live with a vocation harmful to humans or nature. The critique from traditional quarters is that this politicises a path meant to work upstream of politics; the reply, from a monk who watched his country burn, was that not choosing is also choosing.