Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about the Enneagram. As I explored previously, I think it has something important to teach us about liberation from suffering, and as I continue this exploration, I occasionally hit on ideas that seem worth sharing. Today’s is about how a person’s Enneagram type can inform what lineage of Buddhism they should practice in.

Now, sure, not everyone wants to practice Buddhism, so this idea is conditioned on the assumption that you do. And if you do, you’re faced with a choice of Buddhisms.

I know from the outside Buddhism looks like one thing, but really it’s a cluster of multiple traditions divided between various schools and lineages. Each has its own style of practice. Some styles fit some people better than others. The challenge is in knowing which style is going to be a fit for you.

For example, I found myself drawn to Zen. I also regularly meet people who bounced off Zen but found a home in Theravada or Vajrayana. Until recently, I didn’t really have a theory as to why, other than different people are different and need different things. But I’m starting to suspect that a large part of that difference can be explained by the Enneagram.

Recall that Enneagram types are grounded in what we might call the core wound or trauma a person carries—the thing they most deeply want in the world because they feel it’s what they need to make themselves whole. All of these wounds are some version of “not enough”, but the specific manifestation of not-enoughness is what makes the types different. I summarize the wounds for each type as:

1. I’m not right enough

2. I’m not lovable enough

3. I’m not valuable enough

4. I’m not authentic enough

5. I’m not capable enough

6. I’m not safe enough

7. I’m not free enough

8. I’m not protected enough

9. I’m not important enough

The type of wound a person has matters a lot to practice because it determines much about what’s separating them from awakening. For example, as a 4, what was preventing me from resolving the Great Matter was an inability to accept that I might not be special, since if I’m not special, I might be like everyone else, and if I’m like everyone else, I’m not authentic. In contrast, a 2 has to accept they’re lovable, a 6 that they’re safe, a 9 that they’re important, and so on.

My theory is that some Buddhist traditions do a better job of meeting some of these wounds than others. On this theory, it’s not mere coincidence that I came to Zen practice, and specifically Soto Zen; it’s that Soto Zen is set up in a way that handles the needs of 4s better than other forms of Buddhism do, and that’s why I felt at home there. This isn’t to say that Soto Zen is only a place for 4s, only that it has features that make it disproportionately adapted to their spiritual needs.

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So which schools and lineages are best for which types? Here’s my current thinking, with the caveats that I’m not a scholar of religion and I’m writing from inside Zen, meaning I know the landscape better closer to home and less well farther out:

1. Theravada. 1s want to get things right, and Theravada gives them a clear, systematic path with explicit moral precepts and well-defined stages to work through. What they find, though, if they carry the practice far enough, is that they were right enough all along.

2. Christianity? Buddhism isn’t great at working with 2s. What they need is a practice centered in unconditional love, and what Buddhism has to offer is too impersonal, or if it is personal, as from a teacher, then too risky. But you know what religion is great at providing unconditional love? Christianity. I’m sure Christian mystics have paths to awakening, there’s a long tradition of Christian meditation, I just don’t know much about any of it. There’s probably other options, too, and maybe even some within Buddhism I’m just not aware of.

3. Theravada. Theravada works for 3s, too. They want to achieve, to succeed, and to accomplish. Theravada offers all that through explicit stages, maps, and attainments, and in the end they get to attain something they already had to begin with.

4. Soto Zen. Soto Zen says you’re already awakened, you just don’t realize it, and through practice you can have that realization. This directly meets the 4’s sense that something essential is missing, and the thing that was missing was zazen.

5. Theravada. Theravada also works for 5s, but again for different reasons. More than other living traditions, Theravada has a strong scholastic side in the Abhidhamma, and this gives 5s a pathway to convincing themselves of the value of the more embodied practices that will ultimately be necessary.

6. Vajrayana or Pure Land. The 6 needs someone to take refuge in. Vajrayana is built around devotional practices to teachers, ancestors, and deities that fill this need. Pure Land works similarly, though in a more impersonal way, that eventually leads the 6 to see they didn’t need a protector, but to see they were safe from the beginning.

7. Eclecticism. Nailing down 7s to a single thing is basically impossible. They’re unlikely to be happy in one place. Tantric practices will be appealing to them, as will practices from Dzogchen and Zen that point directly to awakening. But realistically they’re going to mix practices from various traditions, and many will struggle to settle down until they’re already far along the path.

8. Rinzai Zen. Unlike Soto Zen, which heavily emphasizes meeting the moment in stillness, Rinzai asks students to meet the moment in action. Rinzai teachers are notorious for doing wild things to help their students wake up, from shouting and hitting to asking them to answer impossible questions. 8s meet these moments, find themselves exposed, survive, and then discover that, in the end, everything is okay.
   (There’s also some interesting Enneagram theory-craft about how 4s and 8s are “the same” except that 4s turn inward and 8s turn outward, so it makes some sense they’d be on opposite sides of a pair of closely related lineages.)

9. Monasticism. Rather than best fitting a specific lineage, 9s are well adapted to monastic practice. Their desire to merge is acknowledged and contained by the monastic structure, and any lineage that offers that will serve them well. Even in lay practice, they’ll do well in more traditional groups that create the same kind of formal container that monastic practice provides. This structure can be found in many traditions, but, in the West, Zen is probably the most accessible and reliable option for getting what they need.

I’m sure more matchings work, and I know plenty of people practicing in lineages outside this mapping. In fact, I know plenty of 6s in Zen, which is surprising, because the 6 reaction to zazen is almost always the same: panic. And yet, sometimes, they stay. I’m sure you can find people of every Enneagram type in every lineage, as the teacher, student, and specific context matter far more than the general pattern of practice in a lineage. But, if you’re currently looking to take up a Buddhist practice and having a hard time finding your fit, I think it’s worth looking to your Enneagram type for guidance.

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