The disgraceful manipulation of the Dalai Lama’s ‘tongue’ video
By Charles Markeaton-Mundy
© image Charles Markeaton-Mundy with His Holiness the Dalai Lama
I have had the great privilege of being with His Holiness the Dalai Lama on seven occasions and participated in the organisation that arranged his last visit to Spain coordinated by the Spanish NGO Comite de Apoyo al Tibet and his president Alan Cantos in 2003. Being in his presence is one of the most powerful experiences I've had in my life. And the aura of loving kindness pervades the room. You feel in the company of a LIGHT being.
His Holiness is good natured and full of humour which is probably his way to handle the pain that burdens him for the suffering his people have had to endure under the Chinese oppression. In all my encounters with him even during serious conversation he often teases in an innocent and playful way and that is part of his endearing personality. His Holiness has always been a paragon of transparency and morality, thoroughly impeccable in his thought, speech, and conduct.
I am totally disgusted and upset by the immorality of the disgraceful manipulation and spicing up of the video in which His Holiness is asked by an Indian boy to hug him and that has led the Western press and social media to sensationalise His Holiness' innocent interaction converting them into a clickbait story with leading titles and fake descriptions and accusations of pederasty!
The groundless interpretation has hurt the sentiments of millions of His Holiness’s followers and especially the Buddhist community and show a total disregard to local customs and ignorance of Tibetan culture where they go to the extreme that when parents or grandparents lose their teeth when old, the children chew the food and feed them by mouth to mouth as they have done for them when they were child. This is symbol of love, compassion, sincerity etc.
Today’s press and social media have lost its faith and reasoning. Sadly, the masses have become shallow and bottomless. They are full of information but have a dearth of understanding. This has made the press, social media and the masses faithless, judgemental, and pretentious know-it-all being.
As Utpal Kumar very well puts it: “The so-called modern mind is cursed with faithlessness. Ironically, it takes pride in it. It thinks faith is an antithesis to rationality. To add to it, it is also afflicted with a judgemental and know-it-all trait. Even the greatest of the souls can be judged, abused, and called names in no time.”
The event took place in Dharamsala (India) where His Holiness who is 88 years old resides and was attended by 100 young students. It is surprising that the maliciously spiced video was released world-wide only a week ago. It is not surprising that the Chinese communist government have tried to utilise to attack whom they wrongly consider their arch enemy. The spiced up edited video has been shown by Chinese state media and for the first time the Tibetans living inside Tibet have rejoiced at seeing images of their spiritual leader. The Chinese authorities, also ignorant of Tibetan culture, miscalculated the reaction! The institution of the Dalai Lama is the strongest bulwark against Chinese hegemony in Tibet so to discredit His Holiness seems to be the motive behind the mischievously edited video.
See full video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT0qey5Ts78
These self-appointed champions of morality are so vain that they think they know everything, even when all they know is in the best-case scenario their own cultural mores and they are totally oblivion to other cultures customs. They preach diversity but in fact despise it and want to impose a uniform, non-spiritual obedient brain washed humanity. In today’s world everyone is a suspect of the most heinous conduct, till proven otherwise and there is something very wrong and dangerous in this way of thinking that is being forcefully implanted in the West.
The perversion in all this affair is sexualising the situation. In our culture the tongue is what we kiss with, it's sexualized but it is not so in Tibetan culture where it is just a part of the body and something playful.
I am surprised at the silence of the celebrity followers of the Dalia Lama such as Lady Gaga, Richard Gere and Sharon Stone to name a few. They have not used their voices to come out and defend His Holiness of these malicious attacks. They should have made support statements. By remaining silent the press and social media that are behind this campaign were expecting them to join in their efforts to destroy His Holiness legacy, so they too are being criticised.
In life when there is injustice one must raise their voice. Sadly, some celebrities who do not know the Dalai Lama were delighted to profit for a piece of the limelight by attacking him without any knowledge. Shame on them. Following the uproar, His Holiness apologised in the way that noble souls apologise on behalf of humanity, on whom his faith has not wavered an iota despite seven decades of suffering and hardship.
I raise my voice to condemn the falsely narrated and misinterpreted video and the dirty twisted minds behind its edition and all those behind its distribution. I strongly condemn such acts of ill intentions.
During the long years in exile His Holiness has not only preserved the religion and culture of Tibet in exile, created a non-sectarian and inclusive Tibetan nationalism and kept the link between the diaspora and homeland but he has also become a beacon of world peace, harmony, and tolerance. He is the epitome of compassion and the inspiration to millions of people from all cultures and backgrounds. His message of universal brotherhood, compassion and loving kindness is a guide to humanity. This disgusting campaign against him has only reinforced his moral standing with all of us that are not part of the herd.
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