Dalai Lama apologises after asking young boy to suck his tongue

RELIGIONS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – The Dalai Lama has apologised after a film was published showing him kissing a young boy on the lips and asking him to suck his tongue.

The Dalai Lama’s office said: “His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras.

He regrets the incident,” The BBC explains that the film appears to have been taken at a skills training programme organised by the M3M Foundation.

The young boy asks if he can hug the Dalai Lama, who then asks the boy to kiss his cheek, then his lips and then suck his tongue.

The report says that “sticking one’s tongue out can be a form of greeting in Tibet”. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism and has lived in exile in India since fleeing Tibet in 1959, after an uprising against Chinese rule.