Ashwini Bhatia / AP
NEW YORK (CNN) — The Dalai Lama has apologized following a video clip emerged displaying the non secular chief kissing a youngster on the lips and then inquiring him to “suck my tongue” at an party in northern India.
In a assertion Monday, the business for the Dalai Lama claimed he “needs to apologize to the boy and his relatives, as well as his quite a few close friends throughout the earth, for the harm his phrases may possibly have brought on,” adding he “regrets” the incident.
“His Holiness frequently teases people today he meets in an harmless and playful way, even in general public and in advance of cameras,” the assertion stated.
His apology arrives after a video of the trade, which took put during an function in the hillside city of Dharamshala in February, went viral on social media with numerous buyers criticizing the Dalai Lama’s actions.
In the video clip, the younger boy can be viewed approaching the Nobel Peace Prize winner ahead of asking, “Can I hug you?”
The 87-yr-old non secular chief then invitations the boy on stage and factors to his cheek and says, “1st right here,” prompting the boy to give him a hug and a kiss.
The Dalai Lama then factors to his lips, and claims: “then I feel at last listed here also.” He then pulls the boy’s chin and kisses him on the mouth.
“And suck my tongue,” he says immediately after a several seconds, poking his tongue out.
The identity of the boy is not regarded. He was at an function with the M3M Basis, the philanthropic arm of Indian real estate firm M3M Group, primarily based in Dharamshala, in which the Dalai Lama lives in everlasting exile. CNN has attained out to the M3M Foundation for comment.
In reaction to the incident, well known Delhi-dependent youngster rights team, Haq: Center for Youngster Legal rights, instructed CNN in a assertion it condemns “all type of child abuse.”
It additional: “Some information refers to Tibetan society about demonstrating tongue, but this video clip is definitely not about any cultural expression and even if it is, such cultural expressions are not acceptable.”
The present-day Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the most effective-recognized dwelling Buddhist figure in the world.
The principal religious chief of the “Yellow Hat” college of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama is revered by hundreds of thousands as the reincarnation of his 13 predecessors.
The non secular chief has been based in India because 1959, pursuing an unsuccessful Tibetan rebellion from Chinese occupation forces. He later recognized a govt-in-exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala, major hundreds of Tibetans who followed him there.
February’s incident isn’t the initial time the octogenarian has sparked controversy in latest many years.
He apologized right after a 2019 job interview with the BBC, all through which he said if a female Dalai Lama should do well him, she “should really be more interesting.”
The prior yr, he instructed Europe must be saved for Europeans, when speaking about the growing degree of African refugees moving into the continent.
“The full Europe (will) eventually come to be Muslim nation? Unachievable. Or African country? Also unattainable,” he stated, introducing that it truly is improved to “continue to keep Europe for Europeans.”
