The Dalai Lama has apologized after a video emerged exhibiting the religious chief kissing a baby on the lips after which asking him to “suck my tongue” at an occasion in northern India.
In a press release Monday, the workplace for the Dalai Lama mentioned he “needs to apologize to the boy and his household, in addition to his many associates internationally, for the harm his phrases could have brought on,” including he “regrets” the incident.
“His Holiness typically teases folks he meets in an harmless and playful approach, even in public and earlier than cameras,” the assertion mentioned.
His apology comes after a video of the trade, which occurred throughout an occasion within the hillside metropolis of Dharamshala in February, went viral on social media with many customers criticizing the Dalai Lama’s actions.
Within the video, the younger boy will be seen approaching the Nobel Peace Prize winner earlier than asking, “Can I hug you?”
The 87-year-old religious chief then invitations the boy on stage and factors to his cheek and says, “first right here,” prompting the boy to present him a hug and a kiss.
The Dalai Lama then factors to his lips, and says: “then I feel lastly right here additionally.” He then pulls the boy’s chin and kisses him on the mouth.
“And suck my tongue,” he says after a couple of seconds, poking his tongue out.
The id of the boy is just not identified. He was at an occasion with the M3M Basis, the philanthropic arm of Indian actual property firm M3M Group, based mostly in Dharamshala, the place the Dalai Lama lives in everlasting exile. CNN has reached out to the M3M Basis for remark.
In response to the incident, outstanding Delhi-based youngster rights group, Haq: Heart for Little one Rights, informed CNN in a press release it condemns “all type of youngster abuse.”
It added: “Some information refers to Tibetan tradition about exhibiting tongue, however this video is actually not about any cultural expression and even whether it is, such cultural expressions will not be acceptable.”
The present Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the best-known residing Buddhist determine on the planet.
The principal religious chief of the “Yellow Hat” college of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama is revered by tens of millions because the reincarnation of his 13 predecessors.
The religious chief has been based mostly in India since 1959, following an unsuccessful Tibetan rebellion in opposition to Chinese language occupation forces. He later established a government-in-exile within the northern Indian metropolis of Dharamshala, main hundreds of Tibetans who adopted him there.
February’s incident isn’t the primary time the octogenarian has sparked controversy lately.
He apologized after a 2019 interview with the BBC, throughout which he mentioned if a feminine Dalai Lama ought to succeed him, she “needs to be extra engaging.”
The earlier yr, he instructed Europe needs to be saved for Europeans, when talking concerning the rising degree of African refugees getting into the continent.
“The entire Europe (will) finally change into Muslim nation? Inconceivable. Or African nation? Additionally inconceivable,” he mentioned, including that it’s higher to “preserve Europe for Europeans.”
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