Dalai Lama incident with young boy.
WATCH: Shocking video of Dalai Lama asking boy to ‘suck’ his tongue
Dalai Lama apologises after video asking boy to ‘suck my tongue’ at event in India.
Dalai Lama incident with young boy.
A shocking video has emerged of the Dalai Lama asking a boy to “suck his tongue” at an event inside a temple in India.
The indecent and inappropriate incident, which took place in late February at the Dalai Lama’s temple in Dharamshala, was attended by about 100 young students who had just graduated from the Indian M3M Foundation.
The interaction sparked a strong backlash online after the video of the event the 87-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader was attending went viral. The Dalai Lama is the holiest figure in Tibetan Buddhism and has lived in exile in India since 1959, when Tibet was annexed by China.
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The video showed the boy first asking the spiritual leader if he could hug him. After agreeing, the Dalai Lama kissed the child on his lips before saying, “suck my tongue”.
He then poked his tongue out and moved close to the boy, who appeared to lean away. The Dalai Lama then laughed before shaking the boy’s hand and saying, “thank you”.
“Now you should look for good human beings who create peace and happiness, and you should not follow those human beings that are killing other people,” he told the boy before he gave him another hug.
Watch the shocking video below:
The official Twitter account for the Dalai Lama posted a video of interaction with the boy after the kiss.
“During his meeting with students and members of M3M Foundation at the 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 works to cultivate peace and happiness in the world,” the tweet read.
The Twitter account later shared a written apology 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 read.
“He regrets the incident.”
THE APOLOGY
THE DALAI LAMA WITH THE YOUNG BOY
