Buddhism has developed a complex psychology of personality types (Pali: Puggala-paññatti), personality traits and underlying tendencies (anusaya). This was mostly developed in the Buddhist Abhidharma literature and its major concern was to identify differing types of persons for pedagogical and soteriological ends. The Buddha was said to have skillfully taught different teachings depending on each person's personality and level of mental development. The development of a Personality psychology was important to the Abhidharmikas who sought to adapt Buddhist teachings and practice to each personality type so as to better lead persons to nirvana by purifying their minds of their mental defilements.
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Typologies
The Buddhist view of the person is encapsulated by the not-self teaching, which states that there is no unchanging core to a person, no soul (atman) or Ego. A person is defined as a stream of phenomenal events (termed dhammas) in a causal series of mind moments (samaya), and therefore an 'individual' or 'person' is merely a conventional designation for a collection of constantly changing processes (the five skandhas). However, in the analytical Abhidharma works, Buddhists outlined how different individuals could still be dominated by certain proclivities and tendencies, patterns of thought which arose consistently enough to allow one to designate different 'personality types'.
Theravada
The Theravada Abhidhamma Pitaka contains a section entitled 'The Puggala-paññatti', which translates to "designation of person types" which contains an extensive outline of a wide array of personality traits. The Abhidhamma generally considered twelve major classes of persons, four of the worldly ordinary class (puthujjana) and eight of the spiritual elect (ariya, the noble ones). The Puggala-paññatti gives a very broad array of personal descriptors organized in 10 groups, so that the first group is 50 single descriptors, the second group is 26 pairs of descriptors, the third 17 triplets, and so on. Descriptors include "one competent in watchfulness", "one of perturbable nature", "the wrathful and the vengeful", "the jealous and the avaricious", a "member of the elect (arhat)" etc.
In the Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification), the scholar Buddhaghosa outlines several types of personalities, each one dominated by a particular trait. The three major negative traits which condition a personality are grasping, aversion, and delusion (lobha, dosa, and moha), also known as the three poisons, and prescribes certain meditation practices for each type. He also outlines three main positive personality traits, confidence (saddha), wisdom (pañña), and speculation.
Mahayana
The Buddhist scholar Asanga outlined seven personality types in his Levels of Listeners:
- One with a strong tendency for desire, the best initial meditation for them is unattractiveness
- One with a strong tendency for hatred, the best meditation for them is good-will
- One with a strong tendency for ignorance, the best meditation for them is dependent origination
- One with a strong tendency for pride, the best meditation for them is 'diversity of the constituents'
- One with a strong tendency for discursive thoughts, the best meditation for them is breath meditation
- One who is equally and moderately disposed for all mental afflictions, they may begin with any meditation
- One with mental afflictions that are not very strong, they may also begin with any meditation