REDACTED / EDIT:

This post has gone to that peak Reddit level of "no principle of Charity" and people yelling at each other when, in fact, we're all in agreement about almost everything one another is saying.

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I got a twofold purpose in writing this huge editorial:

1. Get people to accept the fact that the word "Tulpa" as we use it has almost nothing to do with the original sense of the word in Tibetan Buddhism, and should probably be scrapped in place of a more accurate English or Latin word like Genius/Genia, etc.
2. Get people to contemplate some actual teachings from the tradition that invented Tulpamancy in the first place, and evaluate the purpose, impact, and karma of their Tulpas.

Before I get started, allow me to introduce my credentials / background so you don't think I'm just some opinionated asshole. There is a TL:DR at the end of this if you don't have time or spoons to read the whole thing.

1. I'm a licensed psychotherapist (LCSW from the US) with extensive experience working with trauma related disorders, which I see as totally or almost totally separate from people's headmates or multiplicity or Tulpa-experiences.
2. As a result of working with young people, I've finally understood that my own childhood and adolescence was full of headmates. I had complex relationships with various personalities that I didn't see as *Within* myself, but were not separate from me either. They were always allies, comrades, supports, etc.
3. Over the last ten years, I studied Tibetan Buddhism extensively and learned the rituals and practices of it from several teachers, most importantly a female Lama who is an ordained nun and one of the leading teachers of the Nyingma (Ancient Translation) school. I'm happy to answer specific questions about her privately, but I don't think she'd want her name shared on Reddit lol.

I think these three bullet points give me a pretty unique perspective on this whole thing, I hope you'll PLEASE CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:

As most of y'all know even from a cursory glance at the Wikipedia article, Tulpa is a term from Tibetan Buddhism, which is arguably the most esoteric and "magical" of all the various forms of Buddhism in Asia. Monks and practitioners spend sometimes hours a day on ritual practice to communicate with and make offerings to various beings who are under the command of the Buddha to protect the teachings, avert disease and famine, destroy negative forces, etc.

The purpose of ALL practice is to accomplish enlightenment, so that you can be an omniscient Buddha capable of liberating beings from suffering. All the magic rituals, bells and whistles, superpowers, Tulpas etc. are just side-effects or helpful methods along the path of becoming a Buddha. The beginning, middle, and end of the path is Compassion for the suffering of sentient beings. Lungfish, tapeworms, old grannies, DJT, literally every being that has a consciousness has infinite karmic connections to you, and as a Tantrika or Mantrin you are trying your best to help all those beings out of this miserable uncontrollable cycle of birth, old age, pain, and death.

The term Tulpa is pretty esoteric even within esoteric Buddhism, has never been mentioned by a single one of my teachers. Tulpas come in tons of different forms: (Dharmapalas or protectors, Dakinis who are sort of like "angels" or messengers, Yidams (meditation deities), reincarnated Tulkus (actual breathing human beings).

That said, if I asked my teacher "Rinpoche, can you teach me a little about Tulpas?" I am 100% certain she would become very stern and tell me not to get distracted with "fancy notions" or mystical entertainment, and to focus on my practice. Actual Tulpamancy, to whatever extent it exists in Tibetan Buddhism, is extremely high level magic that is not considered appropriate or even possible for anybody unless they are a siddha.

In other words "can you raise people from the dead yet? No? Okay. You will not be capable of making Tulpas yet."

From my limited understanding and studies under several teachers for approximately ten years, here's how Tulpas work in contemporary Tibetan Buddhism:

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1. A Tulpa would rarely if ever be something that a single practitioner "created," unless they were an EPIC, like Level 20 Wizard. Almost 100% of the time, the "Tulpa" they manifested would be their next incarnation, which could actually be multiple people depending on the power of the master. Some masters, for example, had upward to 5 or more reincarnations.
2. In other words, most beings considered Tulpas are living, breathing humans and are called "Tulku" or reincarnations.
3. Most "abstract" or mental Tulpas are inherited. They are considered real entities with real thoughts and behavior, etc. but I've never heard of them being the personal property of a single person unless we're talking about, once again, Padmasambhava the "Merlin" of Tibet who is considered a Godlike magician and Buddha in his own right and lived over 1000 years ago. Instead, tulpas would usually have a relationship with an entire lineage of mystics who would perform daily rituals to ensure the Tulpa's continued power and activity. They would be considered "as real as you and me," with their own likes and dislikes etc. but the overall purpose of EVERY Tulpa would be to serve the Buddha's teachings, benefit beings, and avert negative circumstances. Highly accomplished Lamas might talk to these Tulpas, or even encounter them in the flesh, but for most ordinary people they're indistinguishable from all the other many local spirits, meditation deities and buddhas of the pantheon.
4. "Okay, but what about my Tulpa then? Aren't they real?" Yeah, the phenomena / personality is real, but if you were a beginning practitioner like me, and you started hearing their voice or seeing visions of this helpful being, you would DEFINITELY be discouraged from assigning too much meaning to these visions or voices, as they are just another "Nyam" or happy meditation experience. Definitely you would be discouraged from having any grandiose ideas that this meant you were special, had powers, etc. You'd be encouraged to take these experiences as positive omens, consider them as help along the way etc. but don't brag about it or diminish the blessings of it by chatting about it with other people, and definitely don't spend more time working on your relationship with this being than you would with any other friend or family member. In general, my teachers would caution me against becoming overly attached to any experiences or relationships, to becoming obsessive over impermanent things, and to loosen my grip on my hopes and fears.

Now, leave it to Victorians to take Tulku concept and turn it into a completely individualistic way of making another Ego inside your Ego--as if having one wasn't enough of a burden. Now, one-hundred-twenty years after Madame Blavatsky, I'm in my kitchen on reddit, wondering how my own current "imaginary friend" or headmate has any relationship with this word Tulpa--except that sometimes in my most wishful thinking, I am a magician or Wizard and I believe my mind to be powerful. There's maybe nothing wrong with that. But I don't think I have a Tulpa.

TL:DR:

1. The biggest, most dangerous form of evil in Buddhist thought is "ego" or self-grasping. If ANY mental phenomena increases your self-cherishing attitudes (self importance, grandiosity, jealousness, craving, hatred, self-loathing, self-absorption etc) it's evil. IF a mental phenomena causes greater flexibility, less attachment, more tranquil emotions, less mental chatter/discursive thinking, increased generosity and compassion toward others, higher mental clarity etc.--that's good. When working with the infinite power of your own mind, it's important to think of it like a garden. What plants are you tending to most? Are they medicinal? Are they ornamental? Are they poisonous? Are they weeds?
2. Regardless of whether multiplicity is chosen or not, positive or negative, people with 10 intentionally-created headmates who all have extremely specific characteristics and who have their own needs and wants, desires, fears, dramas and problems...basically if you told my teacher those beings were Tulpas**, she would give you a death stare and then bury her head in her hands. Call them anything you like, but don't call them Tulpas. It's like grownup coloring books full of "Mandalas" that are really just pretty concentric/radial designs--a mandala is a specific ritual diagram from a specific Tantra, not a generic term for any pretty radial circular design. You may have gone through some very specific Chaos Magic or rituals to make your Tulpa, you may have even read a great deal about the authentic rituals from Tibetan buddhism in order to do it, but it ain't Champagne unless it comes from Champagne, and it ain't a Tulpa unless a Tibetan Buddhist teacher with an authentic lineage taught you how to do it, encouraged you to do so, etc. And TBH, it ain't even really a** Tulpa Tulpa unless it can deliver telepathic messages to your friends, move objects around, perform miraculous activities like curing diseases etc.

We all know what we mean by the word "Tulpa," or "Tulpamancy," on here, but we also know it doesn't really have anything to do with Tibet or Buddhism anymore. IMO, that means we shouldn't use the word--first of all because it's so wildly unhelpful/inaccurate/divergent from the tradition it came from.

Regardless, people are going to continue using the word, so at the very least take some wisdom from the tradition that invented it. Examine your relationships with your multiplicity, and your relationships in general. Read some more about Tibetan Buddhism. And above all else, make sure all of your magic is benevolent.

"If it increases negative emotions, it's not Dharma. If it decreases negative emotions, it's Dharma."