In this episode I am once again joined by Dean Sluyter: meditation teacher and best-selling author of several books including ‘The Dharma Bum’s Guide to Western Literature: Finding Nirvana in the Classics’.
In this episode Dean challenges unexamined assumptions about meditation, reveals how to teach meditation well, how to communicate technique and spiritual ideas in plain language, when and how to effectively use Sanskrit or Tibetan terms, and considers whether or not meditation teachers need to know where the paths they teach lead.
Dean also shares his passion for language and literature, lists his favourite authors, recalls his time teaching English at the illustrious Pingry School, and gives his top tips for how to write well.
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Video version: https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep206-art-of-teaching-meditation-dean-sluyter-3
Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast’.
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Topics Include:
00:00 - Intro
00:49 - Harry Potter and the Summer Solstice
04:13 - Dean’s life and work
05:34 - The beginning of Dean’s love for literature
10:12 - Fascination with etymology
10:56 - The meaning of names
12:19 - Dean’s name and background
15:12 - Knowing stuff is fun
15:59 - 1066 and the rich English vocabulary
17:22 - How to write in a post-Hemingway world
19:52 - Monetise your neuroses
20:22 - Dean’s psychedelic sadhu period
22:32 - Getting hired at the Pingry School
23:59 - Inspiring teenagers to read classics
25:30 - Curriculum vs mission
27:07 - The importance of writing well
27:49 - The Pingry Manual of Style
30:05 - Style and writing well
34:11 - Steve and Charles Dickens
37:25 - Dean on Joyce, Nabokov,
41:29 - Did Hemingway have a near death experience?
43:37 - Dharma Bum’s Guide to Western Literature
45:55 - How to teach meditation
47:26 - Precision in language when teaching meditation
50:24 - Using Sanskrit and Tibetan terms
52:04 - Bad translations of śamatha and vipaśyanā
53:03 - Unexamined assumptions about meditation
55:58 - This is it
56:34 - Teaching meditation is simple
58:18 - Do meditation teachers need to have meditation experience?
01:00:17 - Do meditation teachers need to be enlightened?
01:00:41 - How Transcendental Meditation works
01:04:27 - Mindfulness in schools
01:06:46 - Teaching from experience
01:09:36 - The death of Dean’s first wife
01:12:18 - Imitate, assimilate, innovate
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Previous episodes with Dean Sluyter:
- https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/163-dharma-bums-guide-to-western-literature-dean-sluyter
- https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep189-effortless-awakening-dean-sluyter-2
To find out more about Dean Sluyter, visit:
- https://deansluyter.com/
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For more interviews, videos, and more visit:
- www.guruviking.com
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Music ‘Deva Dasi’ by Steve James
