Geshe Gelek Jinpa was born un 1967 in Eastern Tibet, in the Khyungpo region. He became a monk when he was 19 and first studied meditation and Dzogchen with the master Bönying Rangdröl. He was also trained in philosophy by the scholarly geshe Drangsong Yungdrung who had founded a college at the Tsedrup Monastery. He went out of Tibet in 1992 and first joined the monastery of Dolanji, where he had the chance to deepen his klowledge, before he finally came to Triten Norbutse Monastery. There, he obtained the geshe degree. He is a disciple of Yongdzin Lopön Rinpoche from whom he received a thorough training in the Dzogchen traditions. He accomplished the Tummo retreat twice — one before his departure from Tibet and the second time in Normandy in 2001, in the framework of an academic research program about the bodily effects of the Tummo practice.