Buddhism Beyond Belief with Susan Piver A Powerful New Take on the Enneagram (from my new book)
Mar 13, 2026
A lively conversation about weaving Buddhist practice with the Enneagram to foster real compassion in relationships. They map nine distinct ways of paying attention and explain how those lenses shape conflict with partners, family, and colleagues. The three centers of intelligence and the three instinctual drives are explored to show 27 nuanced personality patterns. Practical examples illustrate daily uses of the system.
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Episode notes
Stress Reveals Your Primary Triad
- Each triad responds to stress differently: gut types show anger, heart types go out of emotional balance, head types speed up thinking into anxiety.
- Susan summarizes these default threat responses as a diagnostic shortcut to find your triad.
Twenty Seven Nuances From Three Subtypes
- Beyond centers, each type has one of three instinctual subtypes: self-preservation, social, or intimate, creating 27 nuanced variants.
- Susan emphasizes that these subtypes alter expression (e.g., a nine can be self-preserving, social, or intimate).
How The Emotional Triad Differentiates
- Within the emotional triad, two overexpress feelings, three numbs to emotions, and four feels intensely inwardly and experiences disconnection.
- Susan uses the four's hallmark: intense inner feeling coupled with a sense that no one truly sees them.
