Range of Human World

Buddhas enshrined in Bangkok temple (Stephanie Fisk)

The Buddha said that there are some worlds where beings are the same in body but different in mind (mental dispositions, attitudes, inclinations). Other worlds are the same in mind but physically differeent. Yet others are characterized by widely divergent physical forms and divergent minds.

In the Human World beings are different in body -- sometimes unrecognizably different -- but are inclined to suffer from greed, aversion (including fear), and delusion.

That our bodies are different seems obvious. But mentally we share Three Afflictions:

• Humans chase and grasp things (which we regard as pleasant).
• Humans avoid/fear other things (which we regard as unpleasant).
• Humans are deluded, confused, trapped in the morass of ignorance.

The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga), therefore, classified people by Personality or Psychological Types depending on which affliction (or countervailing healthy state) was predominant. There are Greed types, Hate types, and Deluded types on the negative end of the spectrum. Conversely, there are Faith types, Wisdom types, and Speculative types. Nearly everyone is a combination-type.

• World's shortest man, leggiest woman meet
• Nancy Zuckerbrod (AP)

The world's smallest man, who's from China's autonomous region of Inner Mongolia, sits under the Queen of the Longest Legs, 9/16/08 (AP Photos/Sang Tan).

LONDON -- The shortest man (who can walk) met the woman with the longest legs. His name is Pingping, of China, and he was born with a type of dwarfism. At age 20 he stands precisely 2 feet 5.37 inches. The pair met to publicize the release of "Guinness World Records 2009," which "celebrates differences," due out 9/17/09. She is Svetlana Pankratova's, 36, a Russian who lives in Spain. She has legs that are more than 4 feet long at nearly 52 inches. Her upper body has nearly typical proportions, giving her a giraffe-like appearance.

• VIDEO

Dressed in a bright-blue mini-dress and low-heeled pumps, Pankratova said she liked her legs, though they can complicate things. "It's hard to find clothes, especially pants," she said. At just over 6-foot-4, she isn't the tallest woman on record. (Sandy Allen, of Shelbyville, Indiana, who died recently, held that title at 7 feet, 7 inches, according to Guinness).

The latest edition of the book lists pop star Britney Spears as the most-searched person on the Internet and the television show "Lost" as the most-downloaded show of all time.

The book has been around for half a century with about 3.5 million copies sold each year, according to editor-in-chief Craig Glenday.