The foremost Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama has sparked uproar on social media after a video of him kissing a minor boy went viral on social media
In the video, the Dalai Lama can be seen kissing the minor boy on his lips and moments later, he puts out his tongue and asks the kid, "Can you suck my tongue?”
As the video hit social media, there was outrage over the spiritual leader’s actions with many claiming that it was a “creepy” act and alleging that this was a case of child molestation
Some netizens also defended the Dalai Lama sticking out his tongue as a traditional Tibetan greeting. The practice of Tibetans sticking out their tongues to greet each other began as the Tibetans feared that the cruel king Lang Darma, who had a black tongue, would get reincarnated. Hence, the greeting focused on Tibetans sticking out their tongues to show they did not have black tongues and were not the reincarnation of the 9th century evil king
The Dalai Lama’s team issued an apology on behalf of the Buddhist leader to the boy and his family, and ‘friends’ across the world, for the hurt his words may have caused. The statement further read, “His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident.”
In the past too, certain remarks by the Dalai Lama have caused outrage. In a 2015 interview with the BBC, the Dalai Lama had said that a future female Dalai Lama “must be very attractive, otherwise not much use.” His remarks sparked a row and his office later apologised over the comments
The Dalai Lama sparked a row when he once criticised Jawaharlal Nehru's "self-centred attitude” to become India’s first PM. The spiritual leader claimed that India's partition would not have happened if Mahatma Gandhi's wish of Muhammad Ali Jinnah being the first prime minister of India would have come true
Talking about the issue of refugees and immigrants in Europe, the Dalai Lama in 2018 said, “Receive them, help them, educate them ... but ultimately they should develop their own country.” He added, “I think Europe belongs to the Europeans.” These remarks also sparked much outrage online
In a BBC interview in 2019, the Dalai Lama said that then-US President Donald Trump has 'lack of moral principle’. "When he became president he expressed America first. That is wrong," the Dalai Lama told the BBC. The Buddhist leader’s remarks on world affairs sparked debates online