Dean Sluyter lived in New Jersey for 33 years where he developed the Literature of Enlightenment Program at the Pingry School and worked with inmates at Northern State Prison and Mountain View Youth Correctional Facility. He now lives in Santa Monica, California and teaches natural methods of meditation and awakening throughout the United States and beyond. He's known for his funny, down to earth style and for making life transforming teachings accessible and easy. He is the author of many books including The Zen Commandments (Tarcher/Putnam 2001). Why the Chicken Crossed the Road and Other Hidden Enlightenment Teachings (Tarcher/Putnam 1998), Cinema Nirvana: Enlightenment Lessons from the Movies (Three Rivers Press 2005), Natural Meditation: A Guide to Effortless Meditative Practice (Tarcher/Penguin 2015), Fear Less: Living Beyond Fear, Anxiety, Anger, and Addiction (TarcherPerigee 2018) and The Dharma Bum's Guide to Western Literature (New World Library 2022)

 Interview Date: 4/1/2022   Tags: Dean Sluyter, J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield, Catcher in the Rye, Fanny and Zooey, Glass family, Bhagavad Gita, Krishna, Arjuna, yoga, Venus of Willendorf, Huckleberry Finn, Huck Finn, Mark Twain, cat in the hat, Dr. Seuss, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Oklahoma, poetry, chanting mantras in Sanskrit, Coleridge, Kubla Khan,Meditation, Education, Writing, Art & Creativity, Buddhism