The Dalai Lama has apologized after a video circulated of him interacting with a boy, kissing him on the mouth and then asking him to suck his tongue.

In a statement on his official website, the Tibetan spiritual leader said he wanted to apologize to the boy and his family “for any damage his words may have caused”.

“His Holiness sometimes jokes innocently and playfully with people he knows, even in public and on camera. He regrets the incident”, says the statement.

The video has led to much criticism. Many social media users have called it “inappropriate” and “disturbing”.

The incident appears to have happened at the Dalai Lama’s temple in Dharamshala, a city in northern India, on February 28, when he was talking to about 120 students who had attended a training program organized by the M3M Foundation. the poor philanthropy of the real estate company M3M Group.

The foundation posted images of the event on social media in March. One of them shows the Dalai Lama hugging the boy from the video that went viral.

What can be seen in the video

In the clip, the boy is seen asking to hug the Dalai Lama.

The leader gestures to his cheek and says: “first hereand the boy kisses her cheek and gives her a hug.

Soon after, holding the boy’s hand, the Dalai Lama gestures to his lips and adds, “I’m thinking here too.” He then kisses the boy on the lips.

The leader then places his forehead on the child’s, before sticking out his tongue. And then tentatively add “and suck my tongue.”

While some people laugh, the boy sticks out his tongue before backing away a bit, just like the Dalai Lama.

More hugs are then shared, while the spiritual leader talks to the boy for a while longer, advising him to look for “good people who create peace and happiness.”

An unusual way of greeting

In many cultures, sticking your tongue out can be considered disrespectful.

But in Tibet it is a way of greeting

It has been a tradition since the 9th century, the time of an unpopular king named Lang Darma, known for his black tongue.

The people of Tibet, thinking that the king had been reborn, stuck out their tongues to show that they were not the monarch.

Now this greeting is one form of respect in this region.

However, no details are known about the context in which the incident took place for which the Dalai Lama apologized or who released the video.

GETTY IMAGES The Dalai Lama is the leading monk of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Dalai Lama, whose name is Tenzin Gyatso, fled Tibet in 1959 and has lived in exile in India ever since, following an uprising against Chinese rule in the region.

Other controversies

It’s not the first time this has happened spiritual leader is under public scrutiny.

In 2019, the Dalai Lama’s office apologized after he said in a BBC interview that any future female Dalai Lama should be “attractive”.

This reaction also drew criticism. His office apologized for the offense caused, attributing it to a misunderstood joke.

The Dalai Lama “has a keen sense of the contradictions between the globalized, materialistic world he encounters on his travels and the complex and more esoteric ideas of reincarnation that lie at the heart of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition,” the text says.

Throughout his life, the Dalai Lama has opposed the objectification of women and supported gender equality, the statement said.