<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Tibetan spiritual leader has apologized after asking a young boy to suck his tongue in a video. It isn’t the first time he’s faced criticism.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Dalai Lama, one of the world\u2019s most influential religious figures and the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, is at the center of controversy for his recent interaction with a young boy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A viral video in which the holiest figure in Tibetan Buddhism is seen kissing a boy on the lips and telling him to \u201csuck my tongue\u201d during a February event has sparked outrage among viewers. The Dalai Lama\u2019s office issued an apology for the incident on Monday, suggesting the exchange was just a playful misunderstanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A clip of the Dalai Lama\u2019s appearance for an event at the Tsuglagkhang Temple complex in Dharamshala, India has spread across social media in recent days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It shows a young boy approaching the Dalai Lama and asking to hug him. The 87-year-old monk invites the boy on stage, motioning to his cheek for a kiss. The boy obliges and gives him a hug, before the Dalai Lama points to his lips and pulls the boy closer for a kiss on the mouth. After a few seconds, he says \u201cand suck my tongue,\u201d leaning toward the boy\u2019s face with his tongue sticking out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, some commenters have \u201cdisgusting\u201d and \u201cabusive,\u201d noting the boy\u2019s apparent uneasiness, according to NPR. Many right-wing influencers in the U.S. have shared the video as an example of what they claim is rampant pedophilia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The HAQ: Center for Child Rights based in Delhi told CNN the video \u201cis certainly not about any cultural expression and even if it is, such cultural expressions are not acceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Tibetan spiritual leader has…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorje-shugden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorje-shugden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorje-shugden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorje-shugden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorje-shugden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorje-shugden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":543,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorje-shugden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540\/revisions\/543"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorje-shugden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dorje-shugden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorje-shugden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dorje-shugden.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}