Tulpa

Last updated

In Tibetan Buddhism and later traditions of mysticism and the paranormal, a tulpa is a materialized being or thought-form, typically in human form, that is created through spiritual practice and intense concentration. [1] [2] [3] Modern practitioners, who call themselves "tulpamancers", use the term to refer to a type of willed imaginary friend which practitioners consider to be sentient and relatively independent. Modern practitioners predominantly consider tulpas to be a psychological rather than a paranormal concept. [4] [5] [6] [7] The idea became an important belief in Theosophy.

Contents

Origins

The concept of tulpas has origins in the Buddhist nirmāṇakāya, translated in Tibetan as sprul-pa (སྤྲུལ་པ་): the earthly bodies that a buddha manifests in order to teach those who have not attained nirvana. The western understanding of tulpas was developed by twentieth-century European mystical explorers, who interpreted the idea independently of buddhahood. [8]

Theosophy and thought-forms

Thoughtform of the Music of Gounod, according to Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater in Thought-Forms (1905) Music of Gounod - Annie Besant Thought Form - Project Gutenberg eText 16269.jpg
Thoughtform of the Music of Gounod , according to Annie Besant and C. W. Leadbeater in Thought-Forms (1905)

20th-century Theosophists adapted the Vajrayana concept of the emanation body into the concepts of 'tulpa' and 'thoughtform'. [9] The Theosophist Annie Besant, in the 1905 book Thought-Forms, divides them into three classes: forms in the shape of the person who creates them, forms that resemble objects or people and may become ensouled by nature spirits or by the dead, and forms that represent inherent qualities from the astral or mental planes, such as emotions. [10] The term 'thoughtform' is also used in Evans-Wentz's 1927 translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead . [11] The concept is also used in the Western practice of magic. [12] [ page needed ] The Slender Man has been described by some people as a tulpa-effect, and attributed to multiple people's thought processes. [13]

Occultist William Walker Atkinson in his book The Human Aura described thoughtforms as simple ethereal objects emanating from the auras surrounding people, generating from their thoughts and feelings. [14] He further elaborated in Clairvoyance and Occult Powers how experienced practitioners of the occult can produce thoughtforms from their auras that serve as astral projections which may or may not look like the person who is projecting them, or as illusions that can only be seen by those with "awakened astral senses". [15]

Alexandra David-Néel

Spiritualist Alexandra David-Néel stated that she had observed Buddhist tulpa creation practices in 20th-century Tibet. [8] [1] She described tulpas as "magic formations generated by a powerful concentration of thought." [16] : 331  David-Néel believed that a tulpa could develop a mind of its own: "Once the tulpa is endowed with enough vitality to be capable of playing the part of a real being, it tends to free itself from its maker's control. According to David-Néel, this happens nearly mechanically, just as the child, when her body is completed and able to live apart, leaves its mother's womb." [16] : 283  She said she had created such a tulpa in the image of a jolly Friar Tuck-like monk, which she claimed had later developed independent thought and had to be destroyed. [17] [3] David-Néel raised the possibility that her experience was illusory: "I may have created my own hallucination", though she said others could see the thoughtforms that she created. [16] : 176 

Tulpamancers

Influenced by depictions in television and cinema from the 1990s and 2000s, the term tulpa started to be used to refer to a type of willed imaginary friend. [9] Practitioners consider tulpas to be sentient and relatively autonomous. [4] Online communities dedicated to tulpas spawned on the 4chan and Reddit websites. These communities refer to tulpa practitioners as "tulpamancers". The communities gained popularity when adult fans of My Little Pony started discussing tulpas of characters from the My Little Pony television series. [4] The fans attempted to use meditation and lucid dreaming techniques to create imaginary friends. [5] [18] Surveys by Veissière explored this community's demographic, social, and psychological profiles. These practitioners believe a tulpa is a "real or somewhat-real person". [5] The number of active participants in these online communities is in the low hundreds, and few meetings in person have taken place. They belong to "primarily urban, middle-class, Euro-American adolescent and young adult demographics" [5] and they "cite loneliness and social anxiety as an incentive to pick up the practice". [5] 93.7% of respondents expressed that their involvement with the creation of tulpas has "made their condition better", [5] and led to new unusual sensory experiences. Some practitioners have sexual and romantic interactions with their tulpas, though the practice is controversial and trending toward taboo. [19] One survey found that 8.5% support a metaphysical explanation of tulpas, 76.5% support a neurological or psychological explanation, and 14% "other" explanations. [5]

Practitioners believe tulpas are able to communicate with their host in ways they sense do not originate from their own thoughts. Some practitioners report experiencing hallucinations of their tulpas. Practitioners that have hallucinations report being able to see, hear and touch their tulpas. [5]

Veissière's survey of 141 respondents found that the rates of neurodivergence including autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was significantly higher among the surveyed tulpamancers than in the general population. He goes on to speculate that people may be more likely to want to make a tulpa because these groups have a higher level of loneliness. Tulpamancers were typically white, articulate, and imaginative and lived in urban areas. [20] A 2022 study found individuals that did not have psychosis who experienced more than one unusual sensory phenomenon, (in this instance autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) and tulpamancy) were found to have greater hallucination-proneness than people that only experienced one of the two sensory phenomenon. [21]

Somer et al. (2021) described the Internet tulpamancer subculture as being used to "overcome loneliness and mental suffering", and noted the close association with reality shifting (RS), a way of deliberately inducing a form of self-hypnosis in order to escape from current reality into a pre-planned desired reality or "wonderland" of chosen fantasy characters. [20]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clairvoyance</span> Claimed form of extrasensory perception

Clairvoyance is the claimed ability to acquire information that would be considered impossible to get through scientifically proven sensations, thus classified as extrasensory perception, or "sixth sense". Any person who is claimed to have such ability is said to be a clairvoyant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Out-of-body experience</span> Phenomenon in which the soul (astral body) is said to exit the physical body

An out-of-body experience is a phenomenon in which a person perceives the world as if from a location outside their physical body. An OBE is a form of autoscopy, although this term is more commonly used to refer to the pathological condition of seeing a second self, or doppelgänger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astral projection</span> Interpretation of out-of-body experiences

Astral projection is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of a subtle body, known as the astral body or body of light, through which consciousness can function separately from the physical body and travel throughout the astral plane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sigil</span> Magical symbol

A sigil is a type of symbol used in magic. The term usually refers to a pictorial signature of a spirit. In modern usage, especially in the context of chaos magic, a sigil refers to a symbolic representation of the practitioner's desired outcome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akashic records</span> Term in theosophy and anthroposophy

In the religion of Theosophy and the spiritual movement called Anthroposophy, the Akashic records are believed by Theosophists to be a compendium of all universal events, thoughts, words, emotions, and intent ever to have occurred in the past, present, or future in terms of all entities and life forms, not just human. They are believed by theosophists to be encoded in a non-physical plane of existence known as the mental plane. There is no evidence for the existence of Akashic records, and rigorous scientific research in this field has seen little traction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imaginary friend</span> Psychological and social phenomenon

Imaginary friends are a psychological and a social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than physical reality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subtle body</span> Quasi material aspect of the human body

A subtle body is a "quasi material" aspect of the human body, being neither solely physical nor solely spiritual, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings. This contrasts with the mind–body dualism that has dominated Western thought. The subtle body is important in the Taoism of China and Dharmic religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, mainly in the branches which focus on tantra and yoga, where it is known as the Sūkṣma-śarīra. However, while mostly associated with Asian cultures, non-dualistic approaches to the mind and body are found in many parts of the world.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to spirituality:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astral body</span> Concept of a subtle body, intermediate between the soul and body

The astral body is a subtle body posited by many philosophers, intermediate between the intelligent soul and the mental body, composed of a subtle material. In many recensions the concept ultimately derives from the philosophy of Plato though the same or similar ideas have existed all over the world well before Plato's time: it is related to an astral plane, which consists of the planetary heavens of astrology. The term was adopted by nineteenth-century Theosophists and neo-Rosicrucians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astral plane</span> Concept of a world of celestial spheres

The astral plane, also called the astral realm or the astral world, is a plane of existence postulated by classical, medieval, oriental, esoteric, and New Age philosophies and mystery religions. It is the world of the celestial spheres, crossed by the soul in its astral body on the way to being born and after death, and is generally believed to be populated by angels, spirits or other immaterial beings. In the late 19th and early 20th century the term was popularised by Theosophy and neo-Rosicrucianism.

The term makyō is a Japanese word that literally means "realm of demons/monsters" or "uncanny realm" or forsaken place, and hellhole.

The mental body is one of the subtle bodies in esoteric philosophies, in some religious teachings and in New Age thought. It is understood as a sort of body made up of thoughts, just as the emotional body consists of emotions and the physical body is made up of matter. In occult understanding, thoughts are not just subjective qualia, but have an existence apart from the associated physical organ, the brain.

An egregore is a concept in Western esotericism of a non-physical entity or thoughtform that arises from the collective thoughts and emotions of a distinct group of individuals.

Closed-eye hallucinations and closed-eye visualizations (CEV) are hallucinations that occur when one's eyes are closed or when one is in a darkened room. They should not be confused with phosphenes, perceived light and shapes when pressure is applied to the eye's retina, or some other non-visual external cause stimulates the eye. Some people report CEV under the influence of psychedelics; these are reportedly of a different nature than the "open-eye" hallucinations of the same compounds. Similar hallucinations that occur due to loss of vision are called "visual release hallucinations".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aura (paranormal)</span> Parapsychological and spiritual concept

According to spiritual beliefs, an aura or energy field is a colored emanation said to enclose a human body or any animal or object. In some esoteric positions, the aura is described as a subtle body. Psychics and holistic medicine practitioners often claim to have the ability to see the size, color and type of vibration of an aura.

Anomalous experiences, such as so-called benign hallucinations, may occur in a person in a state of good mental and physical health, even in the apparent absence of a transient trigger factor such as fatigue, intoxication or sensory deprivation.

Perspectives on the abduction phenomenon are explanations that are intended to explain claims of abduction and examination by apparently otherworldly beings. The main differences between these perspectives lie in the credence ascribed to the claims. Perspectives range from the assertion that all abductions are hoaxes to the belief that the claims are of objective happenings and separate from the consciousness of the claimants.

In psychology, anomalistic psychology is the study of human behaviour and experience connected with what is often called the paranormal, with few assumptions made about the validity of the reported phenomena.

Within chaos magic, a servitor is a psychological complex, deliberately created by the magician for a specific purpose to operate autonomously from the magician's consciousness.

References

  1. 1 2 Campbell, Eileen; Brennan, J. H.; Holt-Underwood, Fran (1994). "Thoughtform". Body, Mind & Spirit: A Dictionary of New Age Ideas, People, Places, and Terms (Revised ed.). Boston: C. E. Tuttle Company. ISBN   080483010X.
  2. ↑ Rojcewicz, P.M., 1987. The "men in black" experience and tradition: analogues with the traditional devil hypothesis. Journal of American Folklore, pp.148-160
  3. 1 2 Westerhoff, J. (2010). Twelve Examples of Illusion. Oxford University Press.
  4. 1 2 3 Thompson, Nathan (2014-09-03). "The Internet's Newest Subculture Is All About Creating Imaginary Friends". Vice. Retrieved 2020-01-25.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Veissière, Samuel (2016), Amir Raz; Michael Lifshitz (eds.), "Varieties of Tulpa Experiences: The Hypnotic Nature of Human Sociality, Personhood, and Interphenomenality", Hypnosis and meditation: Toward an integrative science of conscious planes, Oxford University Press
  6. ↑ "Personality Characteristics of Tulpamancers and Their Tulpas". Bethel University.
  7. ↑ Fernyhough, C.; Watson, A.; Bernini, M.; Moseley, P.; Alderson-Day, B. (2019). "Imaginary Companions, Inner Speech, and Auditory Verbal Hallucinations: What Are the Relations?". Front Psychol. 10: 1665. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01665 . PMC   6682647 . PMID   31417448.
  8. 1 2 Mikles, Natasha L.; Laycock, Joseph P. (2015). "Tracking the Tulpa: Exploring the "Tibetan" Origins of a Contemporary Paranormal Idea". Nova Religio. 19 (1): 87–. doi:10.1525/nr.2015.19.1.87.
  9. 1 2 Mikles, Natasha L.; Laycock, Joseph P. (6 August 2015). "Tracking the Tulpa: Exploring the "Tibetan" Origins of a Contemporary Paranormal Idea". Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions. 19 (1): 87–97. doi:10.1525/nr.2015.19.1.87.
  10. ↑ Besant, Annie; Leadbeater, C. W. (1901). "Three classes of thought-forms". Thought-Forms. The Theosophical Publishing House. Archived from the original on 10 December 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  11. ↑ Evans-Wentz, W. T. (2000). The Tibetan Book of the Dead: Or The After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane, according to Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup's English Rendering. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 29–32, 103, 123, 125. ISBN   0198030517.
  12. ↑ Cunningham, David Michael; Ellwood, Taylor; Wagener, Amanda R. (2003). Creating Magickal Entities: A Complete Guide to Entity Creation (1st ed.). Perrysburg, Ohio: Egregore Publishing. ISBN   9781932517446.
  13. ↑ Chess, S., & Newsom, E. (2014). Folklore, Horror Stories, and the Slender Man: The Development of an Internet Mythology. Springer. pp. 132
  14. ↑ Panchadsi, Swami (1912). "Thought Form". The Human Aura: Astral Colors and Thought Forms. Yoga Publication Society. pp. 47–54. Archived from the original on 3 October 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  15. ↑ Panchadsi, Swami (1916). "Strange astral phenomena". Clairvoyance and Occult Powers. Archived from the original on 26 June 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  16. 1 2 3 David-Neel, Alexandra; DʼArsonval, A. (2000) [Original French published 1929]. Magic and Mystery in Tibet. Escondido, California: Book Tree. ISBN   1585090972.
  17. ↑ Marshall, Richard; Davis, Monte; Moolman, Valerie; Zappler, George (1982). Mysteries of the Unexplained (Reprint ed.). Pleasantville, New York: Reader's Digest Association. p. 176. ISBN   0895771462.
  18. ↑ T. M. Luhrmann (2013-10-14). "Conjuring Up Our Own Gods". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2017-08-12. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
  19. ↑ Samuel Veissière (April 3, 2015), "Varieties of Tulpa Experiences: Sentient Imaginary Friends, Embodied Joint Attention, and Hypnotic Sociality in a Wired World", in Amir Raz; Michael Lifshitz (eds.), Hypnosis and Meditation, Oxford University Press, ISBN   9780198759102 , retrieved July 14, 2016
  20. 1 2 Somer, E., Cardeña, E., Catelan, R.F. et al. Reality shifting: psychological features of an emergent online daydreaming culture. Curr Psychol (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02439-3
  21. ↑ Palmer-Cooper, Emma; McGuire, Nicola; Wright, Abigail (2022-05-04). "Unusual experiences and their association with metacognition: investigating ASMR and Tulpamancy". Cognitive Neuropsychiatry. 27 (2–3): 86–104. doi: 10.1080/13546805.2021.1999798 . ISSN   1354-6805. PMID   34743647. S2CID   240130491.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.