The Literal Meaning of "Tsegyalgar"

 

Recently we asked Jim Valby, a third-level Santi Maha Sangha teacher in the US Dzogchen Community, what is the meaning of the name Tsegyalgar since many people ask. His generous reply below outlines the meaning in depth.

Tsegyalgar (rtse rgyal gar) is the name Rinpoche gave to our Conway-area Community in the late 1980's after we (probably Lauri Denyer-Marder) found the sacred land in Buckland.  John Foster has some interesting stories about purchase negotiations while loggers wanted to harvest trees on the sacred land.  Within an hour after a ganapuja up near the current vajra hall, Rinpoche, sitting in front of the special boulder, raised the funds necessary to purchase the sacred land of Khandroling.

rtse means peak

rgyal means victorious

gar means encampment

Tsegyal is an abbreviation for the dzogchen semde lung named

"Tsemo Chunggyal ~ rTse mo byung rgyal ~ The Supreme Peak"

in the collection of Tibetan terms compiled by Adriano Clemente and Jakob Winkler.

The essence of the knowledge of this sem-lung is transmitted by Rinpoche in the secret 9th rigpai tsalwang on SMS Level Two. I will lead an SMS Level Two practice retreat at beautiful Dejamling in southern France from April 20-27, 2013 where we will study & practice these profound teachings.

I have several editions of this text plus Vimalamitra's commentary.  One of my 20 book projects is to translate the root text with Vimala's explanations. 

In about the mid 1990's, for about 7 sessions, about 8 vajra brothers & sisters began studies of classical Tibetan in our yellow school library by trying to translate the beginning the rtse mo byung rgyal.

Individuals new to the community often find it challenging to translate the meaning of the many Tibetan and Sanskrit terms used. There are several publications to assist in this process.
 
 DRAJYOR: Tibetan Phonetics for the Dzogchen Community (Tibetan Cultural Series 22, Shang Shung Editions, 2006). Purchase Here.

March 3-5, 2013 Drajyor Course at Tsegyalgar East  

The Drajyor phonetic transcription system was devised by Chögyal Namkhai Norbu in order for students who do not know Tibetan to be able to easily pronounce the Tibetan practice texts of the Dzogchen Community. In this course, the Drajyor system will be explained in relation to the Tibetan alphabet, drawing detailed examples from two commonly used practices of the Dzogchen Community. This course is open to all who are interested in the teachings and practices of the Dzogchen Community. We will be studying the following texts:  Ganapuja
Instructor: Fabian Sander

MANTRAS AND INVOCATIONS FOR PRACTICES OF THE DZOGCHEN COMMUNITY (Shang Shung Editions 317E)

The collection contains all series of Guruyoga, Yidam transformation practices, all series of Ganapuja, long life practices, purification practices, protection mantras, and Guardian invocations as well as Medicine Buddha mantras, the Naga rite, Sang, and Serkyem.
It is an essential tool for Dzogchen Community practitioners and is available in the following form: Printed book with MP3 CD

There is also a new glossary that we will add to this list once we have further information.