Grievance Procedures

Our intention is for Guhyasamaja Buddhist Center to be a place which embodies compassion and kindness. And we hope that your experiences at the center are deeply positive!

This procedure applies to anyone connected with Guhyasamaja Center. Whether you are attending a class regularly, attend a single event, are a center member, are a regular volunteer, or are on the center’s Management Committee or Board of Directors, if something happens at the center that upsets you or is problematic, please use these steps to help insure that the issue is resolved in a positive way.

1. If you feel able to do so, then talk with the other person and let them know how what happened has impacted you. Often, a simple, straightforward discussion can resolve the issue.
2. If you don’t feel able to talk with the person directly on your own or would find that too overwhelming, then reach out in person or by email to the center’s director, assistant director, or spiritual program coordinator. Let one of them know that you are raising a grievance. If the issue can be resolved by one or more of them facilitating a discussion between you and the other person or by their addressing the issue with the other person without you present, then the issue may be resolved in one of those two ways.
3. If the issue cannot be resolved in a satisfactory way by the approaches mentioned above, then the center’s director, assistant director or spiritual program coordinator will bring the issue to the center’s board of directors.

The board of directors will work with you to insure that the issue is resolved in a positive manner.

Whichever of these approaches is used, an emphasis will be placed on empathy and compassion in dealing with the difficult feelings that arise in relation to such issues. Also, every effort will be made to deal with any grievance raised in a manner that accords with the laws of the state of Virginia, the policies of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) with which the Guhyasamaja Center is affiliated, and more generally with the ethical guidelines of the Buddhist tradition.