Tibetan chief defends ‘harmless’ Dalai Lama after tongue-sucking request to boy
A prime Tibetan chief has defended The Dalai Lama after a video emerged on social media that confirmed him asking a toddler to suck his tongue.
Penpa Tsering, head of Tibet’s government-in-exile, mentioned the non secular chief’s actions have been “harmless” after the clip sparked mass outrage across the globe.
The video, for which The 14th Dalai Lama has since apologized, present his holiness hugging an Indian boy after inviting him up on stage.
The 87-year-old then pointed to his lips, and mentioned: “Then I believe lastly right here additionally.”
He then pulled the unidentified boy’s chin and kissed him on the mouth, including: “And suck my tongue.”
However regardless of the waves of criticism surrounding the video, Tsering believes it exhibits The Dalai Lama’s “affectionate conduct,” CNN reports.
“His holiness has all the time lived in sanctity, (following the lifetime of) a Buddhist monk, together with celibacy. His years of non secular apply have gone past sensorial pleasures,” Tsering informed reporters Thursday. “His holiness is now being labeled all types of names.”
He claimed that “pro-Chinese language sources” ensured the video would go viral on social media, with out giving proof.
The “political angle of this incident can’t be ignored,” he added.
The Dalai Lama — a Nobel Prize recipient, who spent over 60 years in exile after being pressured to flee Tibet by Chinese language forces in 1959 — issued a public apology for his inappropriate change with the boy on Twitter Monday.
“A video clip has been circulating that exhibits a current assembly when a younger boy requested His Holiness the Dalai Lama if he may give him a hug,” learn the tweet.
“His Holiness needs to apologize to the boy and his household, in addition to his many mates the world over, for the damage his phrases could have prompted,” the submit continued. “His Holiness typically teases individuals he meets in an harmless and playful approach, even in public and earlier than cameras.”
“He regrets the incident.”
The clip has since been slammed by numerous individuals on-line, together with rapper Cardi B, who called out “predators” after watching the video.
“This world is stuffed with predators,” Cardi, 30, tweeted Monday as footage of the Tibetan non secular chief’s questionable encounter with the kid circulated on Twitter.
“They prey on the harmless. Those who’re most unknowing, our youngsters,” the mom of two continued.
“Predators might be our neighbors, our faculty lecturers, even individuals with cash, energy & our church buildings,” the “Up” rapper added, earlier than urging mother and father to “continuously speak along with your youngsters about boundaries and what they shouldn’t permit individuals to do to them.”