Dalai Lama ‘deeply sorry’ over comments about ‘attractive’ female successor

The Dalai Lama was criticised for saying any female successor would need to be attractive.
BBC

The Dalai Lama has apologised for saying any woman succeeding him would have to be “attractive”.

The Tibetan spiritual leader faced sharp criticism after he suggested people would not want to look at a female Dalai Lama’s face if she was not good-looking.

A statement from his office apologised for the remarks and insisted the Buddhist teacher had simply made a poorly judged joke.

It read: "He is deeply sorry that people have been hurt by what he said and offers his sincere apologies.”

“It sometimes happens that off the cuff remarks, which might be amusing in one cultural context, lose their humour in translation when brought into another.

“He regrets any offence that may have been given."

It added that the Dalai Lama had always opposed the objectification of women and supported gender equality.

The 14th Dalai Lama - In pictures

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The spiritual leader, who turns 84 this week, made the controversial statement during an interview at his residence in Himachal Pradesh, northern India.

BBC News South Asia correspondent Rajini Vaidyanathan questioned him about comments he made in 2015, when he said that a female successor would need to be “very, very attractive” or she would be “not much use”.

Responding in English, he reiterated his previous suggestions, laughing: “If a female Dalai Lama comes, she should be more attractive.”

In the rest of the interview, the 83-year-old touched on topics including his dreams of returning to Tibet, US President Donald Trump, and refugees seeking asylum in countries across the world.

He said that he felt “sad” when he saw photographs of young children at the US-Mexico border being treated badly by the administration and criticised the president for his “lack of moral principle”.

His office issued no apology for these comments on Mr Trump.

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