His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. 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. In response to people's reaction to the viral clip, the Dalai Lama's official social media account posted an apology on April 10, stating:Ī video clip has been circulating that shows a recent meeting when a young boy asked his Holiness the Dalai Lama if he could give him a hug. Many social media users called the video inappropriate and disturbing, and some who shared it called it an example of pedophilia running rampant. The clip shows the Dalai Lama withdrawing as well. The leader then touches his forehead to the boy's before sticking out his tongue and allegedly saying, "suck my tongue." The onlookers laugh as the boy also sticks out his tongue and moves away. Then, the leader points to his lips and says, "I think here also," and the boy kisses the Dalai Lama on the lips. The Dalai Lama points to his cheek, saying "first here," and the boy gives him a kiss there, followed by a hug. The session was on the persecution of religious minorities-Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, Christians and Falun Gong practitioners-in regions under Chinese control.In the viral video, which includes audio, the boy first approaches the Dalai Lama and asks if he can give the Tibetan leader a hug. In 2020, this army was linked to 7,000 troll attacks and over 50,000 comments at a Geneva forum run by the Tibetan parliament-in-exile. cents, by Chinese authorities to post pro-China messaging. The most prominent campaign is called the 50 Cent Party, internet commentators who are paid “wu mao,” or 50 U.S. Tibetan human rights groups have previously documented online campaigns aiming to discredit the Dalai Lama and paint occupied Tibet as a “contented and idyllic Chinese province.” “The political angle of this incident cannot be ignored,” he said. “Everybody knows China is behind this,” he said, without giving any evidence that China was involved.Īt a press conference on Thursday in Delhi, Penpa Tsering, a political leader of the exiled Tibetan government, said their investigations showed “pro-Chinese sources” being involved in making the video go viral. Shenpenn Khymsar, a Tibetan filmmaker and music composer, told VICE World News that there are immense geopolitical repercussions of the misinterpretation of that video. But in an interview clip released by Voice of Tibet, a Dharamshala-based media outlet that live streamed the event too, when the reporter asks the boy how it feels to be hugged by the Dalai Lama, he said it was an “amazing” experience meeting the Dalai Lama and that he experienced “high positive energy” from the interaction. 28 meet-and-greet in Dharamshala, the Indian city that is the seat of the Dalai Lama’s government in exile. VICE World News did not get a response from the child’s family, who run the M3M Foundation that organised the Feb. He’s the reason for our very existence that we so desperately want the world to see through our eyes.” “This is not just a religious guru we‘re protecting. “Without him, all these mindfulness and meditation apps and Tibetan Buddhist culture being commodified and sold wouldn’t exist.” “He’s the only reason that the world has given our struggle any weight,” Kaysang said. His work spanning several decades involves drawing global support for the linguistic and cultural autonomy of his remote, mountainous homeland, which was annexed by China in 1951. The Dalai Lama retired as the political head of his exiled government in 2011 but remains the spiritual leader for 6.7 million Tibetans worldwide and a symbol of their struggle. “The word ‘suck’ in the Tibetan language is ‘jhip’, and this is not a word that is sexualised in our culture,” she said. Kaysang, who goes by one name and is a Tibetan feminist educator in India, told VICE World News that “suck my tongue” in Tibetan is also a game for the elders to deter cheeky kids from pestering them. “When a kid wants to hug an elderly man, the old man complies, and then gives a kiss as a grandfather or a father would, and plays with the kid.” “Since then, people have shown their tongue as a way of saying that they are not like Lang Dharma,” she said. Tsering Kyi, a U.S.-based Tibetan journalist, told VICE World News that in Tibetan culture sticking out the tongue is a “sign of respect or agreement” which goes back to the legend around a cruel 9th century king, Lang Dharma, who had a black tongue. “It seems that many people in these turbulent times being forced into an environment where we’re meeting people virtually and making e-connections, have completely forgotten what human connection means,” Ugen added in the video.
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