About Us

Vision | Values | Mission | Boddhisattva Vow | History | Organization | Staff

Vision

Our vision is to provide compassionate support for individuals in need within the Boulder County community. The Buddhist Coalition for Bodhisattva Activity aspires to unite the diverse local Buddhist organizations under the bodhisattva ideal. We hope to have all these Buddhist groups act as a coalition and become a recognized presence in the social fabric. It is our aim to integrate into Boulder County's resources and contribute energy in various forms to addressing the existing social problems.

Values

Our values are inspired by the bodhisattva ideal of compassion, helping others, and recognizing the opportunities for awareness in all situations.

In the Buddhist tradition, the bodhisattva is someone who recognizes the interdependence of all beings and is committed to serving others. When we come together as sangha (community), we share our wisdom and our strength. The Coalition is not exclusive. Individuals and groups may join who do not describe themselves as Buddhist, but who share these values and wish to participate in the partnership projects.

Mission

Our mission is to act together in an informal coalition while partnering with local human service agencies in Boulder County to engage in the bodhisattva activity of helping the less fortunate members of our extended community.

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Bodhisattva Vow

However innumerable sentient beings are, I vow to help them.

However inexhaustible the confusions are, I vow to extinguish them.

However immeasurable the dharmas are, I vow to master them

However incomparable enlightenment is, I vow to attain it.

                                                                    (common translation)

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History

The Buddhist Coalition for Bodhisattva Activity (BCBA) started in May 2003. The project was initiated by the current volunteer director Tania Leontov. Founding partner Prescott Knock is the representative of Yeshe Khorlo, the host sangha, which agreed, through the generous permission of Gangteng Tulku Rinpoche, to provide the 501(c)(3) umbrella giving the Coalition legal nonprofit status. Five sanghas came together at the beginning to form the Coalition.

The Coalition received a technical grant and two modest Federal Faith Initiative grants through the Colorado Compassion Initiative. The technical grant was for capacity building in preparation for a partnership with Workforce Boulder's mentoring program, Project Work Together. This partnership was arranged by Leontov through her position, at that time, as representative of the Coalition on the Boulder County task force, Restoring the Soul: Faith and Community Partnerships.

A number of volunteers were enrolled from various sanghas and trained as mentors. This first project provided a great deal of experience in how various Buddhist groups could work together and the nature of the support that BCBA needed to provide for the projects. In June, 2004, an Advisory Board review came to the conclusions that more projects around different core social issues were needed to meet diverse interests, and that a curriculum for studying the Bodhisattva Path would be helpful to sanghas who did not focus on these teachings. From June 2004 to date, the Coalition has entered into additional collaborations and created the first stage of a bodhisattva path curriculum.

Currently the Coalition is committed to a number of different projects. It is represented on the Restoring the Soul: Faith and Community Partnership's Advisory Board. One of the projects in which BCBA is involved was featured at Restoring the Soul's annual conference 2004, "Needs and Dreams," as an example of an interfaith collaboration with a social service agency.

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Organization

The organizational structure consists of an advisory board, and two directors.

The Advisory Board consists of representatives of each of the groups who choose to participate in the Coalition. The board makes the final decisions on the partnership projects in which the Coalition engages, on the general categories of fund raising and financial disbursement, and on the staff positions and selections. At any meeting in which there are at least 50% of the members' representatives present, those representative are empowered to make final decisions on pending issues. The Advisory Board can also decide to seat an unaligned individual who shares BCBA's vision, values and mission.

Advisory Board Members:

Endorse the vision, values and mission of BCBA.

Work to achieve the Coalition goal to establish a Buddhist presence in the service sector of Boulder County

Participate regularly in the Advisory Board in the following ways:

• Commit to attend monthly meetings
• Actively disseminate Coalition news and information through newsletters and email networks
• Commit to expend effort to enroll volunteers from its community, families, friends and acquaintances for the service collaborations
• Introduce the bodhisattva curriculum to their sanghas and encourage its study in order to imbue their work with this vision

The Directorship is an evolving role. This position is currently held by Tania Leontov and Prescott Knock. It includes:

• Networking on behalf of BCBA.
• representing the Coalition on Restoring the Soul: Faith and Community Partnerships
• implementing board decisions
• working with the volunteers and human service agency partners
• overseeing communication to members and associates
• attending to administrative details.

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Staff

Tania Leontov, Co-director, has been a student of the Vidyadhara, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche since 1966. She helped found Shambhala’s first meditation center, Karme Chöling, in Vermont in 1970 and also served as one of the directors. After a stint in private enterprise, she became one of the directors of the Boulder Shambhala Center in 1990. She served in this capacity for thirteen years with responsibilities in family and children affairs, community development and outreach. During this time she also co-founded the Boulder/Lhasa sister city project. She is currently a student of Gangteng Rinpoche, and a member of the Shambhala community.

Tania has been a member of the Snowmass Inter-Religious Conference founded by Father Thomas Keating for the past twenty years, as a representative of and teacher of Vajrayana Buddhism. She teaches in the graduate and undergraduate programs as Regis University. In addition, she is the project director for the Boulder County taskforce, Restoring the Soul: Faith and Community Partnerships, www.restoringthesoul.org.

She has a masters degree in Non Profit Management from Regis University and is currently working on a doctorate in “Ethics and the Bodhisattva Path” at Union Institute and University.

Prescott Knock, Co-Director, has a life-long passion for facilitating spiritual transformation. His early interest in architecture and design led him to study at Arizona State University and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin. It was here that Prescott experimented with creating spaces that foster intentional psychological states for transpersonal growth. This interest in spiritual development led him to complete a bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies at University of California Santa Barbara, followed by a master’s degree in Buddhist Studies at Naropa University. During this time, 1993-96, he founded and led the Left Hand Canyon Ritual Circle.

A practicing Buddhist since 1993, Prescott has studied Mahamudra with Bokar Rinpoche and Dzogchen with Gangteng Tulku Rinpoche of Bhutan. Prescott has lived in Bali and India, where he studied traditional healing methods, traveled ancient pilgrimage routes, and deepened his connection with traditional cultures. During this time, he made a special connection with one of Nepal’s most revered sacred artists. Inspired by the power of the artist's exquisite Buddhist statues, Prescott became an entrepreneur importing them to the west.
 
Prescott helped found The Buddhist Coalition for Bodhisattva Activity with Tania Leontov in May 2003 under the aegis of Gangteng Tulku Rinpoche and Yeshe Khorlo, the host sangha. 

Currently, Prescott is finishing his Ph.D. through the California Institute of Integral Studies, with a dissertation on the developmental history of ritual as reflective of the human – environmental relationship. He continues to pursue his passion for facilitating rituals that emphasize the transformative potential of group ritual practice.

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