Pali "personality typing"? (possibly a very foolish question...)

conradcook

Wikipedia tells us...

The Pali commentaries further provide guidelines for suggesting meditation subjects based on ones general temperament:

• Greedy: the ten foulness meditations; or, body contemplation.
• Hating: the four brahma-viharas; or, the four color kasinas.
• Deluded: mindfulness of breath.
• Faithful: the first six recollections.
• Intelligent: recollection of death or peace; the perception of disgust of food; or, the analysis of the four elements.
• Speculative: mindfulness of breath.

The six non-color kasinas and the four formless states are suitable for all temperaments.

...which makes me wonder if there's some kind of description of what these terms mean particularly. That is, what's the primary thing that distinguishes someone who's intelligent from someone who's speculative? And so on.

Can anybody give me a reference to the relevant part(s) of the Pali canon?

Buddha bless,

Conrad.

Jason

conradcook wrote: »

Wikipedia tells us...



...which makes me wonder if there's some kind of description of what these terms mean particularly. That is, what's the primary thing that distinguishes someone who's intelligent from someone who's speculative? And so on.

Can anybody give me a reference to the relevant part(s) of the Pali canon?

Buddha bless,

Conrad.

I don't recall there being many descriptions like this in the Canon, but you'll find plenty in the Visuddhimagga.

conradcook

Thank you, Jason, Emperor of God. I'll look it up!

More generally, how do people decide what meditation they'll work on?

Buddha bless,

Conrad.

Jason

conradcook wrote: »

Thank you, Jason, Emperor of God. I'll look it up!

More generally, how do people decide what meditation they'll work on?

Buddha bless,

Conrad.

It's translated into English as The Path to Purification.

As for knowing what method to pursue, many experiment with a variety of methods until they find one that works, that helps to get the mind concentrated. One thing I think is helpful is not treating meditation as a chore, but something to play with, to explore, to enjoy. As Thanissaro Bhikkhu mentioned in one of his talks, "Ajaan Fuang once said you have to be crazy about the meditation in order to be really good at it" (Meditations).

Speaking about mindfulness of breathing, he explains this general idea in more detail:

There's a lot to play with here, and the word "play" is important because you've got to enjoy the process. Otherwise there's no enthusiasm for the meditation; you simply go through the motions because it's time to meditate. And when there's no enthusiasm, no joy in the process, you have a hard time sticking with it. The mind is going to lose interest, get bored and try to find something else to think about, something else to fill up the hour. And what you end up doing is filling up the hour with filler — straw, shredded paper, and Styrofoam peanuts — things that are not nearly as helpful as learning about the breath. The reason we're here is not just to put in time. We're here to see how the mind is creating unnecessary suffering for itself and to learn how to stop doing it.