Dalai Lama’s history of controversial remarks and videos

The controversial video that emerged of the Dalai Lama kissing a boy is not the first time the prominent figure has been involved in controversy.

The recent video comes from a charity event he attended in India in February 2023.

From the most recent video to previously saying that a female successor should be “very attractive,” he’s been involved in an increasing number of polemical incidents in recent years.

But did the Dalai Lama kiss a boy? What other controversies has the Dalai Lama been involved in?

Read on below for everything you need to know about the Dalai Lama’s past controversies.

Did the Dalai Lama kiss a boy?

The Dalai Lama apologized after a disturbing video emerged on social media of him kissing a young Indian boy on the mouth before asking him to “suck” his tongue.

Footage of the awkward incident showed the moment when the Tibetan spiritual leader invited the boy on stage at a charity event at his temple in Dharamshala, India in February 2023.

In the video, the boy asks the Dalai Lama “Can I hug you?” to which Tenzin Gyatso replies, “Okay – come!”

The spiritual leader first asks the boy to kiss him on the cheek, before pointing to his lips. He holds the boy’s face as they briefly kiss, then the pair press their foreheads together.

Just as the boy is about to drive away, the Dalai Lama instructs him, “And suck my tongue” – prompting him to slowly creep forward towards the 87-year-old’s outstretched tongue.

What did the Dalai Lama say about women?

This is not the first time the Dalai Lama has run into trouble.

In 2019, the spiritual leader had to apologize after saying that any woman who succeeded him as a reincarnation “should be more attractive.”

Every Dalai Lama is believed to be a reincarnation of their predecessor.

After being asked about the possibility that his own reincarnation could be a woman, he said: ‘If a female Dalai Lama comes, she should be more attractive.

He suggested otherwise, ‘people I think would rather not [to] see her, that face’. He also said in 2015 that a female Dalai Lama “wouldn’t be of much use.”

Of comments made by the Dalai Lama at the time, his office said, “In response to a question as to whether his own reincarnation could be a woman, and suggested that if she were, she would be attractive, sincerely meant no offense to His Holiness.”

“He is deeply sorry that people were hurt by what he said and sincerely apologizes.”

What did the Dalai Lama say about Trump?

In a 2019 BBC interview, the Dalai Lama also accused former US President Donald Trump of “lacking moral principles.”

This is in contrast to comments he made about Trump in 2016 when he said he had “no worries” about Trump becoming president of the US.

He said Trump’s emotions were “a little too complicated,” before chiding Trump’s America First slogan, saying, “That’s wrong. America should take global responsibility.”

He also appeared to mock Donald Trump in a 2016 interview on Good Morning Britain by placing one hand on his forehead and using the other to mimic the movement of Trump’s mouth.

Since the Tibetan’s comments about Trump, the ex-president has appeared in court where he pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Was the Dalai Lama involved in the NXVIM ‘sex cult’?

In 2018, MailOnline revealed exclusively that the Dalai Lama was paid $1 million to travel to America and support a “sex cult” that brainwashed and branded women.

He was paid to speak at a 2009 event in Albany, New York, hosted by NXIVM, pronounced “nexium,” a self-help organization described by former members as a “sex cult.”

The plot involved courting the Tibetan Buddhist leader’s American aide with expensive gifts, overseas travel and reportedly having a steamy affair with the heiress to a drinking fortune.

The deal was brokered by the Dalai Lama’s self-proclaimed “personal peace envoy” to the US, Lama Tenzin Dhonden, who was later replaced amid allegations of corruption.

In the deal, the Dalai Lama spoke to 3,000 followers of NXIVM and placed a khata – a traditional ceremonial Tibetan scarf – around the neck of the group’s founder, Keith Raniere.

Raniere was subsequently convicted of human trafficking, sex offenses and fraud in 2019 and received 120 years in prison.

Convicted criminal Raniere, 62, could be transferred to one of the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ two Communication Management Units (CMU) – commonly known as “Guantanamo North” – where some of the country’s most violent offenders, terrorists and extremists live. country are housed.

Raniere will be moved to the CMU in Terre Haute, Indiana or Marion, Illinois. The prison wards are designed to completely isolate inmates from other inmates and the outside world.

On April 13, 2009, the Dalai Lama also wrote and signed the foreword to a book co-written by Raniere entitled The Sphinx & Thelxiepeia.

What did the Dalai Lama say about immigration?

Earlier comments by the Dalai Lama on immigration have also caused a stir.

Commenting on immigration to Europe, he said the continent should educate and train immigrants with a view to their return home.

The 83-year-old said: “European countries should take these refugees in and give them education and training, and the goal is – to return to their own country with certain skills.”

‘The whole of Europe will eventually become a Muslim country? Impossible. Or African country. Impossible too… keep Europe for Europeans,” he had said.

The new communiqué said these comments “may have been misinterpreted”, and said he “appreciates that many of those who leave their countries may not want or be able to return”.

In September 2018, he said: “If refugees from other countries have come to Europe, it is great that Germany and other European countries have helped them.

‘However, I think most of those refugees consider their own country as their home, but right now there is a lot of killing, bullying and suffering there.

‘That’s why they escaped. So in the short term, European countries should host them, and especially provide children with facilities for education and training, including mechanical training, for the youngsters’.

Who is the Dalai Lama?

The Dalai Lama is a title given by the people of Tibet to the most prominent leader of the Gelug, or “Yellow Hat,” school of Tibetan Buddhism.

He is currently living as a refugee in India after fleeing the Tibetan capital of Lhasa during the 1959 Tibetan uprising.

The Dalai Lama represents Buddhist values ​​and traditions and is seen as an important status for Tibetan independence.

After winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, he received worldwide attention.

However, the deluge of invitations to meet with world leaders and Hollywood stars has dwindled, partly because the aging leader has shortened his punitive travel schedule, but also because of China’s growing economic and political clout.

Beijing accuses him of wanting to split China and calls him a “monk-robed wolf.”