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“His Holiness wishes to apologize to the boy and his family, as well as to his many friends around the world, for the harm his words have caused,” said a statement posted on the Dalai Lama’s official website. The statement comes after a video in which the top leader of Tibetan Buddhism is seen kissing a child on the mouth and then asking him to “suck his tongue” during an event went viral.
The Dalai Lama apologized after a video in which he appears kissing a child on the lips sparked all kinds of global criticism.
“A video has circulated showing a recent encounter, in which a young boy asks His Holiness the Dalai Lama if he can give him a hug. His Holiness wishes to apologize to the boy and his family, as well as to his many friends around the world. the world, for the damage his words have caused,” he said in a statement.
The video was recorded during a meeting held in February at Dharamsala’s Tsuglakhang temple, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile. The Buddhist leader was answering questions from the public when a minor approached him and asked if he could hug him.
The Dalai Lama invited the boy to come up to the platform on which he was sitting. In the video, he points to his cheek, whereupon the boy kisses him before giving him a hug. But seconds later he asked the boy to kiss him on the lips and stuck out his tongue.
Immediately, the 87-year-old Tibetan leader tells the boy: “Suck my tongue.” The boy pulls out his and leans towards him. In the video you can hear how the audience laughs and applauds what happened.
“His holiness often makes fun of people he meets in an innocent and playful way, including in public and on camera,” his office noted.
In the wake of the uproar caused by the video, some have pointed to the Tibetan tradition of showing the tongue as a gesture of greeting. The tradition symbolizes that they will never utter negative things.
The other controversies of the Dalai Lama
The kiss of the child is not the first controversy of the Dalai Lama. In 2015, during an interview with the BBC, he stated that in the future a woman could take his place, but she would have to be pretty or “she wouldn’t be of much use”. A few years later, in 2019, during another interview with the British network, he stated that if he were to be succeeded by “a female Dalai Lama, then [ella] It should be more attractive.”
In the same interview he generated another controversy about migrants in Europe. Regarding the increase in refugees in the old continent, he assured: “Will all of Europe eventually become a Muslim country? Impossible? Or an African country? Also impossible.” And he added that it is better to “keep Europe for the Europeans.”
He then stated that his opinion had been “misinterpreted” and that “he has no doubt that many of those who left their countries do not want to return or cannot return.”
Who is the Dalai Lama?
His name is Tenzin Gyats. On February 22, 1940, when he was four years old, the current Dalai Lama was enthroned as the fourteenth incarnation of “Chenrezig,” or the Buddha of Compassion.
In 1959, after the Communist Chinese invasion of Tibet, he escaped from his palace for security reasons. Later, he took refuge in India and established his government in exile in the city of Dharamsala, on the slopes of the Himalayas.
Of the 80 years since his enthronement as the Dalai Lama, 60 years has lived outside of Tibet. He has spent decades working to rally global support for linguistic and cultural autonomy for his remote, mountainous homeland, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
With AP and EFE
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