Penpa Tsering told reporters at a gathering in the Indian city of New Delhi on Thursday that the Dalai Lama’s acts were “innocent” and had been misread, and said that the controversy around the video had “damaged” the leader’s supporters.
His Holiness has always maintained a life of purity, including celibacy and living according to a Buddhist monk’s rules. His years of spiritual practice have transcended sensual enjoyment, according to Tsering. His holiness is now going under many other titles.
The Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, issued an apology on Monday after a video of his interaction with the youngster went viral on social media and sparked a storm of condemnation from across the world, including allegations of child abuse. Tsering asserted—without providing any support—that internal investigations had shown “pro-Chinese sources” to be responsible for the video’s viral success on social media, according to CNN.
He said, “The political aspect of this occurrence cannot be disregarded.” The most well-known living Buddhist leader in the world is Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama, who is 87 years old. The Dalai Lama, the main representative of Tibetan Buddhism’s “Yellow Hat” tradition, is regarded by millions as the reincarnation of his 13 forefathers.
He moved to India in 1959 as a result of a failed rebellion by the Tibetan people against Chinese control. Afterward, he founded a government-in-exile in Dharamshala, where he was followed by thousands more Tibetans.
NEW 🚨 Dalai Lama apologises for asking boy to suck his tongue
READ: https://t.co/plL62X3zZY
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) April 10, 2023
Some of the Dalai Lama’s followers assert that the moves he made in the video, which was shot in February in the hilly city of Dharamshala in northern India, were misread by Westerners. The expression of emotions and manners nowadays has become starkly westernized, according to Namdol Lhagyari, a Tibetan activist in exile, who posted the statement on Twitter on Monday.
It is abhorrent to interpret Tibetan expression through the lens of other cultures, norms, and societal influences on gender and sexuality. The February incident is hardly the 80-year-first old’s brush with trouble in recent years. In a 2019 interview with the BBC, he expressed regret for saying that a female Dalai Lama “should be more beautiful” if she were to replace him.
The year before, in response to the increasing number of African migrants arriving on the continent, he said that Europe should be preserved exclusively for Europeans.