Grievance Process
We are committed to creating a culture where every person feels confident and empowered to give feedback fearlessly, express their concerns, and report unethical behavior.
Procedures for Raising Concerns, Resolving Difficulties or Grievances
Any actions you take to resolve or raise concerns about your situation will depend on things like what the problem is, how serious it is, how urgent it feels and how satisfying you think a particular step might be.
The options outlined here go from the informal to the formal. You don’t have to go through them in order and can start with any step.
Resolving issues informally
Talk to someone
If you need help with resolving an issue, connect with someone you respect such as a student support person, member of a local management team, or instructor. An opportunity to talk discreetly about the issues and reflect on a resolution may be all that is needed. You can bring someone to the meeting if you don’t want to go on your own.
If appropriate, discuss options for resolution. Try to be as clear as you can about what you think would be a good and satisfactory outcome.
It is better to raise issues openly and early on, rather than suppressing them. If you don’t know who to talk to, you can contact the National Team or an instructor who can advise on the options.
Involving the National Team
If talking doesn’t solve the problem or there is an issue that feels difficult to resolve, you can send a letter to or arrange a meeting with someone from the National Team. The person who deals with your complaint should be neutral which means they won’t have been involved with what has happened so far. For example, they could be a National Director or member of the Board.
In the letter or meeting you should convey what, if anything, you’ve already done to try to resolve the issue.
Options for resolution
If there is conflict with another person(s), you may request a facilitated reconciliation practice to resolve the issue together. This would be dependent on the other person’s agreement to participate.
You can bring someone to the meeting if you don’t want to go on your own.
If you don’t think involving the National Team will be helpful, you can go straight to making a formal complaint.
Formal complaint
If your informal attempts at resolution aren’t satisfying or you want the problem dealt with more formally, or if you believe it’s a serious breach of the Code of Conduct you can make a formal complaint.
If you are unsure whether to make a formal complaint, you can seek advice from someone you consider impartial; it can be an instructor, national team member or a member of the national grievance Council.
National Council
The Boards of each country will form a National Grievance Council. The main role of the Council is to confidentially receive, investigate and advise on resolving formal complaints in a compassionate, fair and impartial way. It may also act as a support body for a member to consult in deciding on what steps to take in resolving difficulties.
The Council will be made up of at least two qualified individuals. Council members may be nominated by the Rigpa membership but will be appointed by the Board.
The Council has the flexibility to decide how best to resolve a grievance or complaint.
The Council will make an annual report to the Board.
How to make a complaint
You can initiate a formal complaint regarding a breach of the Code of Conduct by submitting the complaint on this Google Doc. If you do not feel able to write a letter on your own, you can ask for help from a sangha member or friend. They can also raise the concern on your behalf.
Your complaint is confidential
If you make a complaint about ethical breaches, Rigpa will make every effort to protect your confidentiality. However, to ensure that an adequate or fair investigation takes place, the details of the complaint may require discussions with those involved.
Rigpa will do its best to ensure that anyone who raises a breach or makes a complaint will be protected from rejection or reprisal by anyone else acting on behalf of Rigpa.
Next steps after a complaint is received
After your letter is received you will be contacted by a member of the Grievance Council and invited to collaborate on the next steps towards resolution. This meeting could be by phone or on-line with Zoom and with one or more members of the Council.
You can bring someone to the meeting if you don’t want to go on your own.
A proposed resolution will be shared with you in writing and a follow-up meeting will be arranged if you request it.
Independent Council
In addition to resources within the Rigpa sangha, an Independent Council has been made available. They can be consulted at any point during your issue resolution process. At present two senior western Buddhist teachers, unaffiliated with the Rigpa sangha, represent this council.
The purpose of the Independent Council is as follows:
To offer an open, approachable, and discreet listening forum to any sangha member with serious concerns about ethical conduct, their own or another’s, if/when that advice is not found through the Rigpa organization;
To offer advice in such situations;
To act as an appeals panel for complaints that have been dealt with within the Rigpa sangha;
To make recommendations to the Rigpa Boards, including the Vision Board, which the Board(s) commit to act upon.
The Council can be contacted at: independentgrievancecouncil@gmail.com
See the Rigpa web site for the full details of the members of your national council and the independent council.
This grievance process is new and we encourage feedback so it can be fine-tuned and as effective as possible.