Khenpo Gelek Jinpa Rinpoché
Khenpo Gelek Jinpa Rinpoche has been closely connected with Shenten Dargye Ling since it was founded. Currently, he serves as the President of the Congregation Shenten Dargye Ling. Khenpo Gelek leads the “Gomdra,” which is an in-depth, four-year meditation program at Shenten, held from September to November. Khenpo Gelek also teaches a “Shedra,” which is an interactive course in Bon core doctrinal texts. In addition, he offers teachings on various subjects, organized both by Shenten and sanghas in countries such as Italy, Germany, Finland, Hungary and Mexico. During the year of the pandemic, his daily teachings and practice sessions online were very popular among the western students.
Khenpo Gelek Jinpa was born in 1967. He took monastic vows at the age of nineteen after meeting Yondzin Lopön Tendzin Namdak Rinpoche in 1986. Lama Lhundrub Gyaltsen gave him the introduction to Dzogchen and from the great master Bönying Rangdröl Rinpoche he received the most part of Shardza Tashi Gyaltsen Rinpoche’s Dzogchen teachings. He started his philosophy studies under the renowned scholar Lopön Drangsong Yungdrung. To pursue higher education for the Geshe degree, he went to Menri Monastery in Dolanji, India, in 1992 to study under the guidance of His Holiness the 33rd Menri Trizin Lungtok Tenpai Nyima Rinpoche. From 1994 he continued his studies on Sutra, Tantra, and Dzogchen, and the five Tibetan sciences, philosophy, grammar, medicine, astrology, and poetry under the guidance of Yongdzin Lopön Tenzin Namdak Rinpoche at Triten Norbutse Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal. He obtained the Geshe degree in 2001.
Khenpo Gelek accomplished the hundred-day Tummo retreat twice — the first time during his studies, and the second, during the scientific research program investigating the effects of the Tummo practice. The research was performed in Normandy in 2001 and it was led by professor Benson from Harvard University. The research was sponsored by Loel Guinness and the Kalpa Group.
Khenpo Gelek has been teaching Bön philosophy and meditation at Triten Norbutse Monastery, and since 2005 he has been teaching in numerous western countries. He teaches Dzogchen, in particular from the Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyüd and Gyalwa’i Chagtri, the Female Lineage of Yetri Thasel, as well as Tsa Lung and Tummo regularly in Italy, Austria, Germany, Hungary and Finland, and in several other European countries, Asia, and South America.
In 2013, Geshe Gelek Jinpa was appointed as Khenpo (Abbot) of Shenten Dargye Ling, the Bönpo Monastery in France, by Khenchen Tenpa Yungdrung Rinpoche, the Abbot of Shenten Dargye Ling’s mother monastery Triten Norbutse. During 2014-2017, Khenpo Gelek taught the second four-year cycle of Shenten Dargye Ling’s « Gomdra » (meditation school), focusing on the Dzogchen cycle Zhang Zhung Nyen Gyüd. He started the third “Gomdra” in 2019, focusing on the Dzogchen cycle Drakpa Korsum Yangtse Longchen.
In addition to his extensive teaching, Khenpo Gelek has collaborated with Dr. Charles Ramble and the Kalpa Group in research focusing on the original Tibetan culture and the ancient kingdom of Zhang Zhung. He has also done research on the Bönpo communities, monasteries, temples, and customs in various regions of Nepal for the Bönpo Mahasangha Community of Nepal.
His publications include Sacred Landscape and Pilgrimage in Tibet – In Search of the Lost Kingdom of Bön, by Geshe Gelek Jinpa, Charles Ramble and Carroll Dunham, Abbeville Press Publishers, New York 2005; Heart Essence of the Khandro – Experiental Instructions on Bönpo Dzogchen, translated by Nagru Geshe Gelek Jinpa, Carol Ermakova and Dmitry Ermakov, Heritage Publishers, New Delhi 2012; Bön in Nepal – Traces of the Great Zhang Zhung Ancestors in the Himalayas, by Nagru Geshe Gelek Jinpa, Heritage Publishers, New Delhi 2013; and numerous articles and publications in the Tibetan language and translations of the prayers and texts of the Bön doctrine into English.
Khenpo Gelek has directed several documentaries and videos including In Search of Zhang Zhung, Kalpa Group Production, 2003; Life in Triten Norbutse Monastery, 2009; Hidden Treasures of Mustang, 2009; Gyalwa Shentsang: The Living Descendants of Buddha Tönpa
Shenrab, 2018; and Pönse Lama – Divine Protector, forthcoming in 2020.