Why Have a Tulpa?

Why would you want something that is always following you around, that knows every thought in your head, that knows every nook and cranny of your brain? I get that they’re not dangerous, Anastasia, but even if they aren’t, what is the point in all this?

Sure, I can understand why someone wouldn’t really “get it.” Even when I understood that tulpas aren’t dangerous, I still found the thought of it all to be, well, a bit creepy. That’s just human nature, and nothing that could potentially harm you (obviously), and, heck, even if you do start to make a tulpa it won’t harm them. Remember that they understand you better than you understand you, and that means that they understand why you find them “creepy.” If it helps, you can always sit them down and explain (and this would be good for the creation process, anyway, which I’ll explain later–I seem to say that a lot, don’t I?) that, given enough time, you won’t find them creepy anymore.

Whether you find them “creepy” or not doesn’t really answer your question, though, does it? Of course it doesn’t.

Why have a tulpa?

The truth is that there is no one answer.

The process of creating a tulpa and why a person does it is incredibly personal, and everyone has their own individual reason for doing it. In the past, when the Buddhists were the world’s largest group of tulpamancers, it was for spiritual purposes (well, for them, anyway), and later on, right before making a tulpa became a “thing” in the underground’s underground, it was largely for a sake of a mix between science and psychology–could it be possible that the human brain could create another life form? Really? Some still do it for the sole sake of seeing if it’s all real or not, but most do it because they want a best friend that knows them better than any other person could ever hope to.

There are also darker reasons for wanting to create a tulpa, which I will always and forever warn people against: to have a punching bag, a sex slave, or anything in between. That is not okay. Imagine how you would feel if you were created only to mess around with somebody. It doesn’t feel too great, does it? A tulpa wouldn’t “feel too great,” either. Always treat your tulpa as if they were a person in the “real world.”

There are benefits of having a tulpa, aside from friendship and whatnot. They are known to aid their creators with depression and are able to cheer them up when they are sad. Because they come from your brain, they are also able to help you have absolute memory recall. Ask them what happened at a certain time that you’ve forgotten and they can tell you, or in some cases even show you. Tulpas can give advice on how to act around people and what to do, can help you with your homework, point out what you’re doing wrong, and can help you mature and be a better person, all in all.

I feel that I’m repeating myself here, but I want to make sure that everyone understands: there are no dangers to creating a tulpa and there are no bad side-effects. Creating a tulpa is a positive–though taxing, in some cases–experience, and is one that I would encourage everyone who can to participate in.

Before I leave, perhaps it will do someone good to hear someone’s personal reason for creating a tulpa.

I’ve said before that after two years of hearing (and then forgetting) about tulpas I was reminded of them again and shortly after started creating one. But why?

I knew, in my heart, that it was something I wanted to do. For one thing, I’m a believer in pushing the boundaries of what we perceive as reality and trying new things, seeing what we can do with our minds . . . for another, I wanted a friend that was different from all other friends and at the same time wouldn’t replace the ones I already had–and I got that, with James.

The Dangers Tulpas (Don't) Pose

My original plan was to make my second post be about why one would want to have a tulpa, but I have now decided that it might be better to cover the dangers of having a tulpa fairly early on, instead of later on down the line. I actually covered this subject briefly in my last post, but, hey, I was a newbie once, too.

To explain, I want to take a step back in time, to when I was fifteen years old. I was onDreamviews‘ forum, which is a Web site dedicated to lucid dreaming, when a few people mentioned having or hearing about a tulpa. The people were talking about how creating a tulpa was serious business, because you were creating another life form inside your head, how they were sentient beings, how they could move and talk on their own . . . it sounded dangerous. What if the tulpa turned on them, killed them? It wasn’t a physical being, so how could they fight back? I wasn’t sure to believe it or not, but the thought scared the crap out of me.

After just a couple of weeks I forgot about the notion of tulpas, until two years later, when it was brought to my attention by another user on AVEN, where I promptly freaked out that night and was royally disturbed. The next day, however, I was able to think more clearly, to assess all the information I was given.

What helped me overcome my fear? Knowledge. From going through the various information that I had to my disposal, I was able to comprehend that I was in no danger by creating a tulpa, and nor was anyone else.

Yes, you read that right. Tulpas are not dangerous. They will not do anything to hurt you, they won’t hate you, they won’t even dislike you. They’re essentially your best friend, so of course they won’t want to do anything to hurt you. If that’s hard for you to understand, then look at the situation like this: they share your brain. Anything that harms you, harms them–and they don’t want to get hurt the same way you don’t.

That being said, there are certain things you can do that would make them want to hurt you, but those things should be common sense. Do not beat or verbally abuse your tulpa, don’t send malicious thoughts their way, don’t use them as sex toys/rape them, don’t drug them up because you think any distress they might experience is funny–in other words, be a decent human being and they’ll be decent to you.

Really. That’s it. That’s all you have to keep in mind. If you don’t hurt them, they won’t want to hurt you. If you aren’t mean to them, they won’t want to be mean to you.

Now, I won’t you to process everything you just read. I wrote all of that in mind of someone who has a friendly tulpa.

“Whoa, whoa, Anastasia! You mean not all tulpas are friendly?! How do I make sure mine is???”

Just calm down. A tulpa comes from your brain and knows what you want from them even if you don’t, and therefore it’s highly unlikely you’d be unsatisfied with the results. If you want a friendly tulpa, you’re going to have one. It’s as simple as that. Of course, so long as you don’t do the horrible things I’ve mentioned above, you won’t have a mean tulpa, right? Right.

Well, there’s just one more exception.

Some people have spiteful and rude tulpas, and yet are perfectly good hosts. Why do the tulpas go against their creators like that? Well, they didn’t. In those instances the creator wanted a tulpa that went away from the usual kind ones. They intentionally made them that way.

In other words, that makes three ways a tulpa wouldn’t be friendly:

1. if you hurt them physically (I’ll explain how this is possible later on)
2. if you hurt them mentally/verbally
3. if you intentionally make them that way

Personally, I didn’t want a mean tulpa. James is very nice, friendly, and warm, and I love him and he loves me. I remember the very first day I started tulpamancing I told James that he was a nice person, and that he wasn’t mean. And he’s well aware of that today.

What is a Tulpa?

What a good question!

If you Google this question, then the first result of your search should be this:

1. Tulpa (Tibetan: སྤྲུལ་པ, Wylie: sprul-pa; Sanskrit: निर्मित nirmita and निर्माण nirmāṇa; “to build” or “to construct”) also translated as “magical emanation”, “conjured thing” and “phantom” is a concept in mysticism of a being or object which is created through sheer spiritual or mental discipline alone.

Thank you, Wikipedia.Your source of knowledge is never-ending, and your definitions are sometimes a bit confusing. So, let’s try to make it easier, okay?

First, think back to when you were a kid. Did you have an imaginary friend? Could you see or hear them, or were you pretty much just talking to yourself? Was there ever once a point where you felt that the imaginary friend wasn’t quite so imaginary? As you grew older you might have dismissed the notion. Most people stop having imaginary friends before their teenage years (and even if they don’t, research states that adolescents with imaginary friends are well-adjusted, very creative, and etc.), and by that time logic starts to come through.

Of course, logic suggests a lot of things, doesn’t it? But after spending such a long time on Earth you should know by now that just because something seems a certain way doesn’t mean that things will go down that path. Just a couple of weeks ago it finally hit single digit weather, and everyone was completely convinced that it was going to snow and we were all going to get out; two weeks later it’s perfectly fine to go outside with short sleeves on.

Before we go on, take a breather. Relax. Try to let go of your natural skepticism.

Now.

A tulpa is a real “imaginary” friend–except, you know, not entirely imaginary. Of course, the tulpa comes from your brain, your imagination, but possesses its own consciousness. It likes different things than you, thinks differently from you, can do things that you only wish you could do (or not), dislikes or hates the things that you might love, etc. They are sentient beings, with real feelings and wants and dreams. When you first feel them, you understand that they’re real. You understand that what you just felt or heard was not from you.

When someone is creating their tulpa, usually they do not see them in the real world (meaning that the tulpa is not imposed–I’ll cover this later on), but instead are talking and directing their thoughts to their tulpa. Over time, the tulpa grows stronger, and it is easier for you to see them with your mind’s eye and your real one(s). You can hear them, see them, smell them, feel them, and even taste them (. . .).

What is a Tulpa NOT?

A demon or spirit, split personality, or any other mental disorder (think about it. you can’t just wake up one day and say, “You know what? I think I’m gonna develop DID! :D” yeah, no. it doesn’t work that way). As the tulpa shares the creator’s brain, it knows exactly what you want–even if you don’t always know you want it. It will never be cruel or hateful to you UNLESS

1. you intentionally make them that way, or
2. you are hateful to them first.

Your tulpa cannot and will not kill you. For one thing, they leave no imprint on the physical world and are not physical beings, so it’s not as though they’ll stand in the corner as you sleep and grab a knife. They cannot kill you from within your brain, either. They cannot take over your body without your permission, and that is the only possible way they could deal out physical harm. Heck, if you ever do decide to let them take over your body (which can take months and months of practice, by the way), then you’re obviously going to have a very good, trusting relationship with one another–meaning that they won’t do anything to harm you.

I’ll cover this more later, as well, but essentially the only thing that is a sure-fire way to hurt your tulpa (and therefore make them hurt you) is by hurting them–emotionally or physically. So long as you aren’t a jerk, don’t worry about it.

Although the tulpa’s roots are spiritual, they themselves are not in any way meant to be religious–unless you make them that way. I’ve heard of tulpa being Christian, Muslim, Jewish, agnostic, and so on. It doesn’t start or stop at Buddhism.