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