Dalai Lama apologizes for telling boy to ‘suck your tongue’

New Delhi (EFE)

“A video has gone viral showing a recent encounter in which a boy asks His Holiness the Dalai Lama if he can hug him. The Buddhist leader said in a statement that he wants to apologize to the boy and his family and his many friends around the world for the damage his words have caused.

Footage shows the Dalai Lama kissing the young man on the lips during an act and immediately asking if he could “suck” his tongue in front of other elders. After a few seconds, the Tibetan spiritual leader opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue.

“His Holiness, in public and even on camera, often teases people he meets in innocent and mischievous ways. We regret this incident,” the Dalai Lama’s office stressed.

The Dalai Lama has sparked controversy by joking that a woman could certainly succeed him, but she would have to be “very attractive”.

Lamo Tonthup, the original name of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, fled to India with thousands of his comrades in early 1959 after China’s harsh suppression of a failed popular uprising in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.

Since then, he has continued to fight for the freedom of his people, although always “against formal violence”, which is why he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

The Tibetan religious leader was born on July 6, 1935 in Takser, eastern Tibet, where at the age of two he became the spiritual leader of his people, recognized as the reincarnation of his predecessor.