Dalai Lama forced to apologise following bizarre footage of him and young boy
The Dalai Lama has apologised following the controversy surrounding him kissing a young Indian boy on the lips and asking him to “suck” his tongue.
The exchange, which occurred at an event for India’s M3M Foundation in March 2023, has since gone viral on social media, with the spiritual leader’s office releasing a statement to address the situation.
On behalf of the Dalai Lama, the statement reads he “wishes to apologise to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused”.
“His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras,” the statement said, also saying he “regrets” the interaction.
The leader of Tibetan Buddhism, Tenzin Gyatso, was hosting students and members of the foundation at his temple in Dharamshala, India, where he lives in exile.
In the footage, the boy is seen approaching the microphone before asking, “Can I hug you?”
His Holiness then responds, “OK, come” and ushers the boy onto the stage.
The 87-year-old then motions to his cheeks and tells the child “first here” and the boy gives him a hug and a kiss.
He holds the boy’s arm and turns to him, saying “then I think fine here also”, pointing to his lips.
The Dalai Lama proceeded to grab the boy’s chin and kiss him on the mouth as the audience laughed.
“And suck my tongue,” he tells the boy, sticking out his tongue.
The two press their foreheads together and the boy pokes out his tongue briefly before stepping away as the spiritual leader gives him a playful slap on the chest and laughs.
He can then be seen offering the boy spiritual advice, telling him to “look [to] those good human beings who create peace, happiness” and not “not follow those human beings who always kill other people”.
The clip sparked outrage in India, with some describing the footage as “creepy” and “disgusting”, while his supporters insisted he was just “joking around”, local media reports.
The clip has also gained a lot of traction on Spanish-language social media.
“This video is scandalous,” Colombian journalist Vicky Dávila shared on Twitter. “The Dalai Lama kisses a boy who approaches him on the mouth. The attendees applaud and laugh instead of condemning this aberration.”
In March, the official Twitter account for the Central Tibetan Administration shared a snippet of the second half of the interaction.
Tibet.net wrote, “During his meeting with students and members of M3M Foundation at courtyard of Thekchen Choeling Tsuglakhang, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama advised a young Indian boy to look up to a good human being who always work for cultivating peace and happiness in the world,”
The Dalai Lama made headlines back in 2019 following a sexism controversy after he said that if his successor were a woman, “she should be more attractive”.
Following the sexism scandal, his office was forced to issue an apology, explaining that his “off-the-cuff remarks, which might be amusing in one cultural context, lose their humour in translation when brought into another”.
In 2018 he made waves online after a remark he made on a trip to Sweden, suggesting that refugees should return to their homes and help rebuild their countries because “Europe belongs to Europeans.”
Image credit: Twitter