an open letter to unfettered minds

Dear friends, students, volunteers and members of Unfettered Mind,

As you may know, membership on Unfettered Mind now numbers in the thousands as it and the UMning site continue to grow into a global community of students, teachers and volunteers from around the world.

We believe that the time has come for Unfettered Mind to adopt a grievance procedure that reflects the depth and breadth of teachings now available within this burgeoning organization and are requesting your support in establishing such a process, one that would match the quality of those used by other reputable Buddhist organizations such as Spirit Rock or the San Francisco Zen Center. 

We have already been working in collaboration with An Olive Branch, founded by Reverend Roberts Kyoki of the Dainin Katagiri Lineage, to help us set up such a procedure.  An Olive Branch has contacted Stephanie Siebert, president of Unfettered Mind, since having received two separate allegations of misconduct.

The independent non-partisan approach of An Olive Branch can help our sangha foster communication and promote healing in this potentially volatile situation.  Moving forward on this initiative would be a remarkable step consistent with the ground-breaking and innovative approach to Buddhism that Ken McLeod has pioneered in the West.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Patricia Ivan