Dalai Lama regrets asking boy to 'suck my tongue'

The video drew a lot of criticism, with many social media users saying it was inappropriate and offensive.

The incident occurred on February 28 at the Dalai Lama Temple in Dharamsala. He interacted with approximately 120 students who completed the skills training organized by the M3M Foundation, the sponsor arm of the real estate company M3M Group.

The foundation shared photos of the incident on social media in March – including one of the Dalai Lama hugging a child in a viral video.

In a video circulating the Internet, a young man is seen asking the Dalai Lama if he could hug him.
“Here first,” the leader said, pointing to his cheek, and the boy kissed his cheek and hugged him.

Then the Dalai Lama put the boy’s hand on his lips and said, “I want to be here too” and kissed the boy’s lips.

The leader put his forehead on the child’s forehead and stuck out his tongue saying “bite my tongue”. In the midst of some laughter, the young man stuck out his tongue just like the Dalai Lama and then pulled it back.

Later, there were more hugs as the spiritual leader spoke to the boy for a while and told him to look for “good people who create peace and happiness.”
Tongue out is a Tibetan form of greeting.

The Dalai Lama has been in exile in India since he fled Tibet in 1959 during an anti-Chinese uprising.

In 2019, the Dalai Lama’s office apologized after the spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, told the BBC that future female Dalai Lamas must be “beautiful”.

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