Dalai Lama apologizes after video kissing a boy on the lips and asking him to ‘suck’ his tongue

New Delhi
CNN
 — 

The Dalai Lama has apologized immediately after a video clip emerged demonstrating the religious chief kissing a little one on the lips and then asking him to “suck my tongue” at an event in northern India.

In a assertion Monday, the office for the Dalai Lama stated he “wishes to apologize to the boy and his family, as effectively as his quite a few close friends across the earth, for the harm his phrases may well have brought on,” adding he “regrets” the incident.

“His Holiness generally teases persons he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and ahead of cameras,” the statement reported.

His apology comes after a video clip of the trade, which took spot through an event in the hillside town of Dharamshala in February, went viral on social media with quite a few end users criticizing the Dalai Lama’s actions.

In the movie, the young boy can be viewed approaching the Nobel Peace Prize winner right before asking, “Can I hug you?”

The 87-yr-outdated religious leader then invitations the boy on phase and factors to his cheek and states, “first here,” prompting the boy to give him a hug and a kiss.

The Dalai Lama then points to his lips, and states: “then I feel at last below also.” He then pulls the boy’s chin and kisses him on the mouth.

“And suck my tongue,” he claims soon after a handful of seconds, poking his tongue out.

The identity of the boy is not identified. He was at an event with the M3M Basis, the philanthropic arm of Indian real estate company M3M Group, based in Dharamshala, in which the Dalai Lama lives in long-lasting exile. CNN has arrived at out to the M3M Foundation for remark.

In reaction to the incident, notable Delhi-based baby legal rights team, Haq: Centre for Little one Rights, told CNN in a statement it condemns “all sort of baby abuse.” It additional: “Some information refers to Tibetan culture about exhibiting tongue, but this video clip is surely not about any cultural expression and even if it is, these cultural expressions are not acceptable.”

Some of the Dalai Lama’s supporters have decried the criticism, nonetheless, arguing the leader’s actions have been misinterpreted under a Western lens.

“Expression of feelings and manners currently has been melted collectively and become vividly westernized,” Namdol Lhagyari, a Tibetan activist in exile, wrote on Twitter. “Bringing in narrative of other cultures, customs and social affect on gender and sexuality to interpret Tibetan way of expression is heinous.”

Sticking out one’s tongue is a indication of respect or arrangement and was generally employed as a greeting in common Tibetan society, according to the Institute of East Asian Experiments at the College of California, Berkeley.

The latest Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the world’s best-regarded living Buddhist figure.

The principal spiritual chief of the “Yellow Hat” school of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama is revered by millions as the reincarnation of his 13 predecessors.

The spiritual leader has been centered in India considering that 1959, next an unsuccessful Tibetan uprising towards Chinese profession. He later recognized a authorities-in-exile in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala, top countless numbers of Tibetans who followed him there.

February’s incident is not the very first time the octogenarian has sparked controversy in the latest years.

He apologized immediately after a 2019 interview with the BBC, in the course of which he stated if a female Dalai Lama must realize success him, she “should be extra interesting.”

The past yr, he proposed Europe really should be kept for Europeans, when speaking about the climbing amount of African refugees coming into the continent.

“The total Europe (will) sooner or later turn into Muslim place? Not possible. Or African place? Also not possible,” he explained, introducing that it is improved to “keep Europe for Europeans.”