Cinema Nirvana: Enlightenment Teachings from the Movies

Dean Sluyter

Dean is a superb writer, film critic and teacher who infuses this book (his third) with deep spiritual insights (mostly Buddhist) about movies. A partial list of the films included in the book are…

• A Night at the Opera (Marx brothers)
• The Truman (true man) Show
• Momento
• A Fist Full of Dollars
• Casablanc
• Easy Rider
• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• The Godfather

He also unfolds his own personal spiritual journey throughout the book, including his many years in the TM Movement. Dean, who became a TM teacher in 1971, was among the earliest MIU graduates, receiving his M.A. in 1975. His course in Enlightened Literature at the Pingry School in New Jersey was the first program to offer TM instruction to high school students, and several Movement leaders got their start in Dean’s classroom. This is a hard book to put down, and you'll find yourself re-reading certain chapters to deepen your understanding, not just of the films, but also of Buddhist philosophy and psychology.

Review by Mark Wilensky