Starting the Practice
A tulpa consciousness can be spawned from literally any thought. It makes a hard choice --- which thought to use for the very first stages of the practice? Other guides often suggest to focus on personality traits, visual looks, common behavior patterns.
This practice consists of a few meditation exercises. Unlike the popular image, meditation isn't all sitting in a lotus pose, reciting prayers or focusing on chakras. Simply speaking, meditation is an exercise for your mind.
Some meditation exercises are based on the concepts of craving and aversion, the very basic reactions of the unconscious mind. When we don't like something or don't want something, tension, fear, the mind reacts with aversion. On the contrary, when we like some experiences, be it a good food or nice music, the mind reacts with craving, it wants more of that.
Craving and aversion make the basis for the ego of I. We want to be someone, we want to have something. We label things and other people with mine. Craving and aversion follow us in every unconscious step in this world. You can easily verify that. Think of something you didn't like today and how you reacted. This of something nice happening yesterday and how you wanted it to continue.
Craving and aversion will be our tools in this practice. While overall Buddhist experience tries to get rid of those, we now will try to create those, as that will allow another ego to settle in the mind.
What can be an easy thing to cling to? A name of the tulpa, or its looks. Its personality. That is why many guides focus on those, although they rarely explain the root cause.
Crafting some things to love and hate, uniquely different from your own, is the way to root a new thought. What you need to keep in mind is that as soon as you started to consciously accept the idea of creating a tulpa, that particular thought will start to get rooted in the mind. That will be the proto-tulpa, that needs to be fed with experiences. Experiences that it will love and hate.
Most practices will require a focused state of the mind. That indeed requires some calm space and preparations. Meditation teaches you how to focus your mind. The initial exercise is a meditation focused on the tulpa. Learn how to focus your mind, study other meditation practices. The authors can highly recommend Headspace (specifically the “pro” and focusing series) or Vipassana. This practice is a serious commitment, and, as such, it requires a serious preparation for the mind. There are a few common misconceptions about meditation that you need to be aware of.
It doesn't matter if it is day or night, light or dark, but it is important to meditate with closed eyes. If you have eyeglasses, take them off for the practice. You don't need to use them as the eyes will be closed. While advanced meditation techniques involve eyesight, the very first exercises are done with eyes closed. Seeing things distracts the mind just too much. Noises can be distracting too, so it's highly preferable to practice in a quiet place. The pose is pretty important, as a pose too comfortable can get the body into sleep. While it is hardly advisable to sit in lotus pose from the very beginning, consider picking a pose that you find usable by you from whatever meditation guides you'll find. As the meditation skills progress, it is acceptable to walk or do other active things.