Dalai Lama’s Bizarre Kiss Sparks Controversy

The Dalai Lama has caused controversy after kissing a young Indian boy on the lips and asking him to “suck” his tongue at a recent event.

The bizarre interaction, for which he apologized on Monday, occurred last month during an event for India’s M3M Foundation. The footage has gone viral on social media.

The leader of Tibetan Buddhism, Tenzin Gyatso, was hosting students and members of the foundation at his temple in Dharamshala, India, where he lives in exile.

In the video, the boy approaches the microphone and asks, “Can I hug you?” The 87-year-old says “OK, come” and invites him on stage.

The Dalai Lama motions to his cheek and says “first here” and the boy gives him a hug and kiss. He holds the boy’s arm and turns to him, saying “then I think fine here also” as he points to his lips.

The spiritual leader then grabs the boy’s chin and kisses him on the mouth as the audience laughs. “And suck my tongue,” the Dalai Lama tells the boy, sticking out his tongue.

They press their foreheads together and the boy briefly pokes out his tongue before backing away, as the Dalai Lama gives him a playful slap on the chest and laughs.

Dalai Lama apologizes

The boy goes to move away but the Dalai Lama shakes his hand and holds it to his cheek, before pulling him in for another hug.

He then offers the boy some spiritual advice, telling him to “look [to] those good human beings who create peace, happiness” and not “not follow those human beings who always kill other people”.

As the video spread across the internet it was condemned by many, who called it “inappropriate”, “scandalous” and “disgusting”. The controversy prompted an apology from the office of the Dalai Lama, who said his behavior had been “innocent and playful”.

It said in a statement: “His holiness wishes to apologize 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. He regrets the incident.”

In 2019, the Dalai Lama was caught up in a sexism controversy after he remarked that if his successor were a woman, “she should be more attractive”.

His office was forced to issue an apology, saying that sometimes his “off-the-cuff remarks, which might be amusing in one cultural context, lose their humor in translation when brought into another”.

The previous year he also made headlines for suggesting on a trip to Sweden that refugees should return to their homes and help rebuild their countries because “Europe belongs to Europeans”.

Dalai Lama is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or “Yellow Hat” school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, who lives as a refugee in India. The Dalai Lama is also considered to be the successor in a line of tulkus who are believed to be incarnations of Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion.