| Revision as of 07:56, 12 October 2017 editBrightR (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users6,257 edits Undid revision 804894051 by Farcaller (talk) - ask for a source, get a source, remove the source...← Previous edit | Revision as of 08:09, 12 October 2017 edit undoBrightR (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users6,257 edits replacing this reference with a short, concise reference that will hopefully put all the moaning and groaning to rest. removed psychobabble. "a scientific study found... that they're somatic"? POV-pushing. No such findings exist. It's a survey.Next edit → | ||
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| {{Contains Indic text}} | {{Contains Indic text}} | ||
| {{Tibetan Buddhism}} | {{Tibetan Buddhism}} | ||
| '''Tulpa''' |
'''Tulpa''' is a concept in ] and ] of a being or object which is created through spiritual or mental powers.<ref name="Campbell">{{cite book|last1=Campbell|first1=Eileen|last2=Brennan|first2=J.H|last3=Holt-Underwood|first3=Fran|title=Body, Mind & Spirit: A Dictionary of New Age Ideas, People, Places, and Terms|date=1994|publisher=C.E. Tuttle Company|location=Boston|isbn=080483010X|edition=Revised|section=Thoughtform}}</ref> It was adapted by 20th century ]s from Tibetan sprul-pa ({{bo|t=སྤྲུལ་པ་|w=sprulpa}}) "emanation" or "manifestation".<ref name="Mikles">{{cite|title=Tracking the Tulpa: Exploring the “Tibetan” Origins of a Contemporary Paranormal Idea|last1=Mikles|first1=Natasha L|last2=Laycock|first2=Joseph P|journal=Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions|date=August 2015|pp=87–97|doi=10.1525/nr.2015.19.1.87}}</ref> Modern practitioners use the term to refer to a type of ].<ref name="SavageMinds">{{cite web|last1=Joffe|first1=Ben|title=Paranormalizing the Popular through the Tibetan Tulpa: Or what the next Dalai Lama, the X Files and Affect Theory (might) have in common|url=http://savageminds.org/2016/02/13/paranormalizing-the-popular-through-the-tibetan-tulpa-or-what-the-next-dalai-lama-the-x-files-and-affect-theory-might-have-in-common/|website=Savage Minds|accessdate=22 April 2017|date=13 February 2016}}</ref> | ||
| Modern practitioners use the term to refer to a type of ].<ref name="SavageMinds">{{cite web|last1=Joffe|first1=Ben|title=Paranormalizing the Popular through the Tibetan Tulpa: Or what the next Dalai Lama, the X Files and Affect Theory (might) have in common|url=http://savageminds.org/2016/02/13/paranormalizing-the-popular-through-the-tibetan-tulpa-or-what-the-next-dalai-lama-the-x-files-and-affect-theory-might-have-in-common/|website=Savage Minds|accessdate=22 April 2017|date=13 February 2016}}</ref> A scientific study on the subject of tulpas conducted in 2015 classified them as "imaginary companions who are said to have achieved full sentience after being conjured through ‘thought-form’ meditative practice". Human "hosts", or tulpamancers, mediate their practice through open-ended how-to guides and discussion forums on the Internet and experience their Tulpas as semi-permanent auditory and somatic hallucinations.<ref name="Veissière">{{cite web|last1=Veissière|first1=Samuel|title=Varieties of Tulpa Experiences: Sentient Imaginary Friends, Embodied Joint Attention, and Hypnotic Sociality in a Wired World|url=http://somatosphere.net/2015/04/varieties-of-tulpa-experiences-sentient-imaginary-friends-embodied-joint-attention-and-hypnotic-sociality-in-a-wired-world.html|website=Somatosphere|accessdate=6 September 2017|date=3 April 2015}}</ref> | |||
| ==Indian Buddhism== | ==Indian Buddhism== | ||
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| ==Tibetan Buddhism== | ==Tibetan Buddhism== | ||
| Tulpa is a ] concept in ] and ]. The term “thoughtform” is used as early as 1927 in ]' translation of the ].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Evans-Wentz|first1=W.T.|title=The Tibetan Book of the Dead: Or The After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane, according to Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup's English Rendering|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=0198030517|pages=29-32, 103, 123, 125}}</ref> ] in a note to his English translation of the life story of ] defines a ''tulpa'' as “an emanation or a manifestation.”<ref name="Rinpoche"/> The ] is said to be partly a tulpa of ], the Bodhisattva of Compassion.<ref>{{cite|url=https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/biography-and-daily-life/birth-to-exile|title=The Dalai Lama - Biography and Daily Life|section=Birth to Exile|publisher=The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama|accessdate=October 10, 2017}}</ref> The Dalai Lama mentioned in a public statement that his successor might appear via tulpa while the current Dalai Lama is still alive.<ref name="SavageMinds"/> | Tulpa is a ] concept in ] and ]. The term “thoughtform” is used as early as 1927 in ]' translation of the ].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Evans-Wentz|first1=W.T.|title=The Tibetan Book of the Dead: Or The After-Death Experiences on the Bardo Plane, according to Lāma Kazi Dawa-Samdup's English Rendering|date=2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn=0198030517|pages=29-32, 103, 123, 125}}</ref> ] in a note to his English translation of the life story of ] defines a ''tulpa'' as “an emanation or a manifestation.”<ref name="Rinpoche">{{cite book|last1=Rinpoche|first1=Dza Patrul|title=The Golden Letters: The Three Statements of Garab Dorje, the First Teacher of Dzogchen|date=1996|publisher=Snow Lion Publications|location=Ithaca, New York|isbn=9781559390507|page=350|edition=1st}}</ref> The ] is said to be partly a tulpa of ], the Bodhisattva of Compassion.<ref>{{cite|url=https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/biography-and-daily-life/birth-to-exile|title=The Dalai Lama - Biography and Daily Life|section=Birth to Exile|publisher=The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama|accessdate=October 10, 2017}}</ref> The Dalai Lama mentioned in a public statement that his successor might appear via tulpa while the current Dalai Lama is still alive.<ref name="SavageMinds"/> | ||
| ===Alexandra David-Néel=== | ===Alexandra David-Néel=== | ||
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| ==Tulpas in modern Western society== | ==Tulpas in modern Western society== | ||
| The concept of tulpa was popularized and secularized in the Western world through fiction, gaining popularity on television in the late '90s and 2000s. This exposure led to an internet subculture of practitioners who create tulpas.<ref name="SavageMinds" /> The community originated in 2009 on the discussion board ], and gained popularity through the emergence of the ].<ref name="Vice">{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/tulpamancy-internet-subculture-892|title=Meet the 'Tulpamancers': The Internet's Newest Subculture Is Incredibly Weird|date=|publisher=Vice|accessdate=2017-04-22}}</ref> These individuals, calling themselves "tulpamancers", treat the tulpas as a real or somewhat-real person, or as a special kind of ].<ref name="SavageMinds" /><ref>{{cite web|author=T. M. Luhrmann |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/opinion/luhrmann-conjuring-up-our-own-gods.html |title=Conjuring Up Our Own Gods - The New York Times |publisher=Nytimes.com |date=2013-10-14 |accessdate=2017-04-22}}</ref> 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" and they "cite loneliness and social anxiety as an incentive to pick up the practice." They report an improvement to their personal lives through the practice, and new unusual sensory experiences. Some practitioners have sexual and romantic interactions with their tulpas, though the practice is controversial and trending towards ].<ref name="Veissière" /> | The concept of tulpa was popularized and secularized in the Western world through fiction, gaining popularity on television in the late '90s and 2000s. This exposure led to an internet subculture of practitioners who create tulpas.<ref name="SavageMinds" /> The community originated in 2009 on the discussion board ], and gained popularity through the emergence of the ].<ref name="Vice">{{cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/tulpamancy-internet-subculture-892|title=Meet the 'Tulpamancers': The Internet's Newest Subculture Is Incredibly Weird|date=|publisher=Vice|accessdate=2017-04-22}}</ref> These individuals, calling themselves "tulpamancers", treat the tulpas as a real or somewhat-real person, or as a special kind of ].<ref name="SavageMinds" /><ref>{{cite web|author=T. M. Luhrmann |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/opinion/luhrmann-conjuring-up-our-own-gods.html |title=Conjuring Up Our Own Gods - The New York Times |publisher=Nytimes.com |date=2013-10-14 |accessdate=2017-04-22}}</ref> 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" and they "cite loneliness and social anxiety as an incentive to pick up the practice." They report an improvement to their personal lives through the practice, and new unusual sensory experiences. Some practitioners have sexual and romantic interactions with their tulpas, though the practice is controversial and trending towards ].<ref name="Veissière">{{cite web|last1=Veissière|first1=Samuel|title=Varieties of Tulpa Experiences: Sentient Imaginary Friends, Embodied Joint Attention, and Hypnotic Sociality in a Wired World|url=http://somatosphere.net/2015/04/varieties-of-tulpa-experiences-sentient-imaginary-friends-embodied-joint-attention-and-hypnotic-sociality-in-a-wired-world.html|website=Somatosphere|accessdate=6 September 2017|date=3 April 2015}}</ref> | ||
| Research by R L Wakefield is inconclusive on whether tulpas relate to any condition of the mind that would be classified as a ]. On its own, the modern concept of tulpa doesn't fall under a ], as the latter requires a "clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Spitzer|first=R. L.|last2=Wakefield|first2=J. C.|date=December 1999|title=DSM-IV diagnostic criterion for clinical significance: does it help solve the false positives problem?|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10588397|journal=The American Journal of Psychiatry|volume=156|issue=12|pages=1856–1864|doi=10.1176/ajp.156.12.1856|issn=0002-953X|pmid=10588397}}</ref> Veissière's survey of the community with 118 respondents on the explanation of tulpas found 8.5% support a metaphysical explanation, 76.5% support a neurological or psychological explanation, and 14% "other" explanations. Nearly all practitioners consider the tulpa a real or somewhat-real ]. 93.7% respondents expressed that their involvement with creation of tulpas had "made their condition better".<ref name="Veissière"/> | Research by R L Wakefield is inconclusive on whether tulpas relate to any condition of the mind that would be classified as a ]. On its own, the modern concept of tulpa doesn't fall under a ], as the latter requires a "clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Spitzer|first=R. L.|last2=Wakefield|first2=J. C.|date=December 1999|title=DSM-IV diagnostic criterion for clinical significance: does it help solve the false positives problem?|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10588397|journal=The American Journal of Psychiatry|volume=156|issue=12|pages=1856–1864|doi=10.1176/ajp.156.12.1856|issn=0002-953X|pmid=10588397}}</ref> Veissière's survey of the community with 118 respondents on the explanation of tulpas found 8.5% support a metaphysical explanation, 76.5% support a neurological or psychological explanation, and 14% "other" explanations. Nearly all practitioners consider the tulpa a real or somewhat-real ]. 93.7% respondents expressed that their involvement with creation of tulpas had "made their condition better".<ref name="Veissière"/> | ||
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Tulpa is a concept in mysticism and paranormal of a being or object which is created through spiritual or mental powers. It was adapted by 20th century theosophists from Tibetan sprul-pa (Tibetan: སྤྲུལ་པ་, Wylie: sprulpa) "emanation" or "manifestation". Modern practitioners use the term to refer to a type of imaginary friend.
Indian Buddhism
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One early Buddhist text, the Samaññaphala Sutta lists the ability to create a “mind-made body” (manomāyakāya) as one of the "fruits of the contemplative life". Commentarial texts such as the Patisambhidamagga and the Visuddhimagga state that this mind-made body is how Gautama Buddha and arhats are able to travel into heavenly realms using the continuum of the mindstream (bodhi) and it is also used to explain the multiplication miracle of the Buddha as illustrated in the Divyavadana, in which the Buddha multiplied his emanation body ("nirmita") into countless other bodies which filled the sky. A Buddha or other realized being is able to project many such "nirmitas" simultaneously in an infinite variety of forms in different realms simultaneously.
The Indian Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu defined nirmita as a siddhi or psychic power (Pali: iddhi, Skt: ṛddhi) developed through Buddhist discipline, concentrated discipline and wisdom (samadhi) in his seminal work on Buddhist philosophy, the Abhidharmakośa. Asanga's Bodhisattvabhūmi defines nirmāṇa as a magical illusion and “basically, something without a material basis”. The Madhyamaka school of philosophy sees all reality as empty of essence, all reality is seen as a form of nirmita or magical illusion.
Tibetan Buddhism
Tulpa is a spiritual discipline and teachings concept in Tibetan Buddhism and Bon. The term “thoughtform” is used as early as 1927 in Evans-Wentz' translation of the Tibetan Book of the Dead. John Myrdhin Reynolds in a note to his English translation of the life story of Garab Dorje defines a tulpa as “an emanation or a manifestation.” The 14th Dalai Lama is said to be partly a tulpa of Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The Dalai Lama mentioned in a public statement that his successor might appear via tulpa while the current Dalai Lama is still alive.
Alexandra David-Néel
Belgian-French explorer, spiritualist, and Buddhist Alexandra David-Néel claimed to have observed these mystical practices in 20th century Tibet. She reported tulpas are "magic formations generated by a powerful concentration of thought." David-Néel wrote that "an accomplished Bodhisattva is capable of effecting ten kinds of magic creations. The power of producing magic formations, tulkus or less lasting and materialized tulpas, does not, however, belong exclusively to such mystic exalted beings. Any human, divine or demoniac being may be possessed of it. The only difference comes from the degree of power, and this depends on the strength of the concentration and the quality of the mind itself."
David-Néel wrote of the tulpa's ability to 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. This, say Tibetan occultists, happens nearly mechanically, just as the child, when his body is completed and able to live apart, leaves its mother's womb." David-Néel claimed to have created a tulpa in the image of a jolly Friar Tuck-like monk which later developed a life of its own and had to be destroyed. David-Néel raised the possibility that her experience was illusory: "I may have created my own hallucination", though she reports that others could see the thoughtforms that have been created.
Thoughtform
The Western occult understanding of the concept of "thoughtform" is believed by some to have originated as an interpretation of the Tibetan concept of "tulpa". The concept is related to the Western philosophy and practice of magic. Occultist William Walker Atkinson in his book The Human Aura described thought-forms as simple ethereal objects emanating from the auras surrounding people, generating from their thoughts and feelings. 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". The theosophist Annie Besant, in her 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.
Tulpas in modern Western society
The concept of tulpa was popularized and secularized in the Western world through fiction, gaining popularity on television in the late '90s and 2000s. This exposure led to an internet subculture of practitioners who create tulpas. The community originated in 2009 on the discussion board 4chan, and gained popularity through the emergence of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom. These individuals, calling themselves "tulpamancers", treat the tulpas as a real or somewhat-real person, or as a special kind of imaginary friend. 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" and they "cite loneliness and social anxiety as an incentive to pick up the practice." They report an improvement to their personal lives through the practice, and new unusual sensory experiences. Some practitioners have sexual and romantic interactions with their tulpas, though the practice is controversial and trending towards taboo.
Research by R L Wakefield is inconclusive on whether tulpas relate to any condition of the mind that would be classified as a mental disorder. On its own, the modern concept of tulpa doesn't fall under a dissociative identity disorder, as the latter requires a "clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning". Veissière's survey of the community with 118 respondents on the explanation of tulpas found 8.5% support a metaphysical explanation, 76.5% support a neurological or psychological explanation, and 14% "other" explanations. Nearly all practitioners consider the tulpa a real or somewhat-real person. 93.7% respondents expressed that their involvement with creation of tulpas had "made their condition better".
See also
- Bardo
- Bicameralism (psychology)
- Cryptid
- Dialogue
- Dream yoga
- Egregore
- Etiäinen
- Golem
- Homunculus
- Materialization (paranormal)
- Philosophy of mind
References
- ^ 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.
- Mikles, Natasha L; Laycock, Joseph P (August 2015), "Tracking the Tulpa: Exploring the "Tibetan" Origins of a Contemporary Paranormal Idea", Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions: 87–97, doi:10.1525/nr.2015.19.1.87
- ^ Joffe, Ben (13 February 2016). "Paranormalizing the Popular through the Tibetan Tulpa: Or what the next Dalai Lama, the X Files and Affect Theory (might) have in common". Savage Minds. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
- ^ Fiordallis, David (20 September 2008). "Miracles and Superhuman Powers in South Asian Buddhist Literature" (PDF). University of Michigan. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
- 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.
- Rinpoche, Dza Patrul (1996). The Golden Letters: The Three Statements of Garab Dorje, the First Teacher of Dzogchen (1st ed.). Ithaca, New York: Snow Lion Publications. p. 350. ISBN 9781559390507.
- "Birth to Exile", The Dalai Lama - Biography and Daily Life, The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, retrieved October 10, 2017
- ^ David-Neel, Alexandra; DʼArsonval, A. (2000). Magic and Mystery in Tibet. Escondido, California: Book Tree. ISBN 1585090972.
- Marshall, Richard; Davis, Monte; Moolman, Valerie; Zappler, George (1982). Mysteries of the Unexplained (Reprint ed.). Pleasantville, NewYork: Reader's Digest Association. p. 176. ISBN 0895771462.
- 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.
- Panchadsi, Swami (1912). "Thought Form". The Human Aura: Astral Colors and Thought Forms. Yoga Publication Society. pp. 47–54. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- Panchadsi, Swami (1916). "Strange astral phenomena". Clairvoyance and Occult Powers. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- Besant, Annie; Leadbeater, C. W. (1901). "Three classes of thought-forms". Thought-Forms. The Theosophical Publishing House. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- "Meet the 'Tulpamancers': The Internet's Newest Subculture Is Incredibly Weird". Vice. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
- T. M. Luhrmann (2013-10-14). "Conjuring Up Our Own Gods - The New York Times". Nytimes.com. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
- ^ Veissière, Samuel (3 April 2015). "Varieties of Tulpa Experiences: Sentient Imaginary Friends, Embodied Joint Attention, and Hypnotic Sociality in a Wired World". Somatosphere. Retrieved 6 September 2017.
- Spitzer, R. L.; Wakefield, J. C. (December 1999). "DSM-IV diagnostic criterion for clinical significance: does it help solve the false positives problem?". The American Journal of Psychiatry. 156 (12): 1856–1864. doi:10.1176/ajp.156.12.1856. ISSN 0002-953X. PMID 10588397.