Dalai llama ask a child to suck his tongue

[Mooshamoo]

Has anyone seen the new video of the Dalai Llama asking a child to suck his tongue. Yes. It sounds bizarre. But it is in the news right now. The video is out there. And the dalai llama is apologising on social media now

Im devastated! I went to see the Dalai Llama in India. He gave a speech on accepting and loving everyone, and that it didn't matter what religion we are. I always told people that it was one of the highlights of my life.

I went through life thinking he was a good person, that he was one of the good ones. To see this today, makes me think oh no is he yet another abuser.

Some people have remarked about this video that sticking your tongue out at someone is a greeting in Tibet.

However - the Dalai Llama kisses the child on the lips in the video, and asks the child to suck his tongue. It does not look right at all.

He has apologised on twitter now.

What do you all think?

It's a dementia statistic. I'll try and find it for you.

@Mangogirl12 I'm sorry but where is your evidence the DL even has dementia?

She isn't saying he definitely does.

A change in behaviour or personality combined with his age could well be what leads to further investigation and then a diagnosis.

A previous poster said if I remember correctly that 1 in 6 people his age do.

No, I'd assume they were joking. Using you tongue can be erotic but for the other person, not for the tongue owner. Maybe I'm just weird.

@ananass I've honestly never heard of it turning people on. I thought tongues were just pleasing for the other person. I am obviously more concerned if it's an erogenous zone to some.

It’s a very incorrect statistic.

Most studies show 5-15%
One study suggests 25%

So miles off, saying that 2/3 of dementia sufferers have this

Yes and it has been as long as I can remember

@Lapland123 that sounds more like it's correct - will also depend on what's included eg loud un-filtered comments about other peoples appearance/sexual appeal/own sexual needs etc

To me tongue sucking is revolting rather than sexual. Akin to 'pull my finger'.

I don’t understand why people still see Buddhism as such a peaceful religion when the Rhohingya people in Myanmar are victims of attempted genocide by Buddhists.

@pickledandpuzzled as someone said way way up-thread the Dalai Lama has always had a reputation for odd jokey interactions with adults which I'd put down to his unusual upbringing - not a deliberate Savile type distraction technique

But who knows really

There are a lot of conflated issues here. States with Buddhism as the state religion such as Myanmar, Thailand etc has as many corrupt monks and temples as did mediaeval Christianity in the West. For a start the Buddha said not to build temples and statues to him, so you can see how deviated many of the expressions of the religion are in the modern day. The common theme between sexual abuse and individuals, institutions, families, religions and all the rest of human artifices is men.

I can't believe that some people are trying to make out that this was harmless.

To the poster splitting hairs about tongues not being erotic - I'm assuming you've never French kissed anyone?

I suggest you watch the video because it made me very stressed watching it. He was putting his forehead against the child's forehead. It looked deliberately sexual.

Forehead touching is absolutely not sexual! It's totally playful, adult child interaction!

Cheek to cheek however is a potentially dodgy. I had an optician do that and was very uncomfortable!

Really?

So if a strange old man said both to you you’d see them as equal

I don’t get the downplaying of a gross suggestion

Forehead touching is absolutely not sexual! It's totally playful, adult child interaction!

😂Oh dear.

The boy did not chose all these touchy feely, kissy kissy things with this powerful old monk. He was coerced. The Dalai Lama coerced him and his little helpers endorsed it. That is the abuse. Do you think the boy woke up that morning and thought how nice it would be to kiss some old monk on the lips and suck his tongue ? He was coerced and could not say no to the prolonged touching because the DL is an adult with immense power. The DL did not let the boy go until he chose to. Totally gross. I think some posters lack in empathy if they are unable to see the discomfort of the boy and that he was violated.

@Mangogirl12 you appear to know a fair bit about Dementia, so do I.

As you seem familiar with this topic, please can you say if you think the DL should have access to children if he has dementia and if due to his dementia he asks children inappropriate questions and conducts himself inappropriately with them?

Weird weird and more weird this guy. I used to listen to his teaching. But won't again. Got a big reality check yesterday.

R E A L I T Y C H E C K

I would be so grossed out if someone sucked my tongue! I genuinely didn't know anyone would like it let alone find it erotic and I dated a toe sucker! At least it's not really something you can do non-consensually, without a pair of pliers anyway!

If, and only if you are the child's parent!!

Honestly, take your head out of the sand.

I can totally see how Jimmy Savile got away with his crimes for so many years. When he first died, there was a long thread on here saying what a legend he was.

People only see what they want to see. It's the same with Michael Jackson too making up all these excuses as to why he acted like he was dating 10 year old boys.

The simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

No of course not! No one has said that it's ok!

It's not ok, and mustn't happen again.

@Mangogirl12

There is a massive ignorance of dementia on this thread, I find it so depressing. Suggesting the most obvious; dementia, does not mean we are looking to excuse him or say he is innocent. There is this blinkered black-and-white thinking here. You're either 100% against abuse, or if you say it's dementia, you're for abuse.

Really glad you posted this. I’ve been afraid to contribute my 2p since, as you say, anyone offering up any kind of critical thinking gets jumped on. Both of my grandmothers had dementia. I was very close to one. She had a complete personality change which was very distressing to witness. Suggesting the possibility of dementia is not excusing child abuse, and I agree that the ignorance around dementia on display here is extremely depressing. People with dementia can behave in very unpleasant ways. To suggest, as some posters are, that this is just the way they’ve always been and kept it under wraps is incredibly insulting to all the people who’ve experienced the disintegration of a loved one’s mind.

Dementia is a read herring. He could have had a bang to the head or brain tumour.

A little boy was coerced to stand foreheads and chins touching as an old man kissed him, then asked to suck an old man's tounge that was forced in his mouth and people around, clapped and laughed.

@TokyoStories

It's irrelevant to talk about dementia on this thread because there is no evidence that the DL actually has it.

And this isn't the first time that he's done something objectionable.

The bigger question is not whether he has dementia or not but how children can be safeguarded against adults coercing children to engage in unwanted physical contact, whether the adult has mental capacity or not. Focus on the child and how to safeguard against adults like the Dalai Lama.

After all, we don't know if the DL has dementia. We don't know why he asked his grossly inappropriate questions and engaged in prolonged physical contact with a boy who didn't like it. We just know that he did do it, that's a fact.

How are children safeguarded against such coercive and inappropriate behaviour from any adult, male or female, religious leader, teacher, tutor, youth leader, neighbour or uncle?

What are the checks and balances? People get dementia, people have other cognitive conditions or are plain perverted, the focus should be on how to protect children from abusive behaviour, whether the adult has reduced capacity or not, how are young people safeguarded? Also abuse isn't always sexual it can be emotional abuse or other kinds of physical abuse. Focus on the children who need protecting against predatory adults, whether they intend to be predatory or not. The discussion about dementia is only valid in this context to help understand how some people with dementia behave when they are sexually or socially abusive and how can children be safeguarded against that? But again, nobody knows if the DL has dementia or if he is just used to having his own way with people.

Why hasn't a statement been issued confirming his dementia if that were the case? What he has done is serious enough to oblige him to lay aside his preference to keep it private. I would say that he does not want to reveal that the perfected state of being and the mystique surrounding it which he has claimed for so long was a sham all along. Some followers would question why he turned out to be fallible and prone to these conditions just like they are.

I admit that don't know a great deal about dementia but it is the followers who have thrown it into the mix with no proof and the story has almost vanished overnight which raises many questions.