The Monk Made from Thought
A famous explorer of Tibet wrote that she created a person out of pure concentration, a jolly little monk, who began to slip out of her control.
What was reported
Alexandra David-Néel was a French explorer and writer who, in 1924, became one of the first European women to reach Lhasa. In her 1929 book Magic and Mystery in Tibet, she described tulpas, beings Tibetan masters were said to create through meditation.
She wrote that she tried it herself, imagining a short, cheerful monk. After months, he began to appear on his own, and others in her camp said they saw him. Over time he grew leaner and more sinister, and she said it took her six months of effort to dissolve him.
Explanations offered
Her story is the only source, and it can't be checked. Scholars say her idea of the tulpa mixes Tibetan Buddhist teachings about emanations with Western ideas of her time. The word has since taken on a life of its own online.
- When
- Described in 1929
- Where
- Tibet, China
- Witnesses
- The explorer Alexandra David-Néel, in her own account
- Status
- Unverified
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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