Bob Greene: I often have this question about the idea of spiritual practice being about not trying. Do you think that all the effort you did put in for a long time was sort of not needed? Or was there a period of time where there was some degree of effort that was valuable? He says he didn't spend a lot of time putting in effort because he was way too lazy for that. Greene: The Buddha said, practice like your hair is on fire, but if we have the comforts of life, it's OK to sit back and do nothing.
Dean Sluyter is an award-winning author who has taught meditation since 1970, from maximum security prisons to the Guatemalan rainforest. He’s a student of Eastern and Western sages from multiple traditions and has completed numerous pilgrimages and retreats in India, Tebet, Nepal, and the West.
In this episode, Eric and Dean discuss his latest book, The Dharma Bums Guide to Western Literature: Finding Nirvana in the Classics, which reflects his lifelong exploration of the awakening process as well as his years as a prep school English teacher.
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Dean Sluyter and I Discuss How to See the Dharma in Western Literary Classics and …
- His book, The Dharma Bums Guide to Western Literature: Finding Nirvana in the Classics
- The role (or lack thereof) of efforting in meditation
- The difference between awareness and mind
- What it means to “relax your grip” or “let it be” during meditation
- The Dharma and the Infinite in The Cat and the Hat
- That dualism is the way the world appears to us when viewed through the thinking mind
- How to find the fragrant emptiness at the core of our minds, beyond all thoughts
- That only the infinite can give us infinite joy, in the finite world – having can’t match our yearning.
- The nature of desire is that it replicates itself
- Kindness in Huckleberry Finn
- That the kingdom of heaven is spread upon the earth, within and all around us
Dean Sluyter Links
Dean’s Website
Instagram
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If you enjoyed this conversation with Dean Sluyter, check out these other episodes:
Dean Sluyter Interview (2019)
Inventions in Literature with Angus Fletcher
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