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Dalai Lama ‘deeply sorry’ for comments on women
NEW DELHI, July 2, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The Dalai Lama is “deeply sorry” about
comments he made about women in a recent BBC interview, his office said in a
statement on Tuesday.
The Tibetan spiritual leader made no apology however for saying that US
President Donald Trump had a “lack of moral principle” and “complicated”
emotions.
“(In) responding to a question about whether his own reincarnation could
be a woman, and suggesting that if she were she should be attractive, His
Holiness genuinely meant no offence,” the statement said.
“He is deeply sorry that people have been hurt by what he said and offers
his sincere apologies.” The comments, which attracted criticism around the
world, were made in an interview with the British broadcaster aired last week
from the Nobel peace prize winner’s exile in Dharamsala in northern India.
“If female Dalai Lama comes, then she should be more attractive,” he had
said. “If female Dalai Lama, oh, oh… that people, I think prefer, not see
her, that face.”
“His Holiness, a monk now in his mid-eighties, has a keen sense of the
contradictions between the materialistic, globalized world he encounters on
his travels and the complex, more esoteric ideas about reincarnation that are
at the heart of Tibetan Buddhist tradition,” the new statement said.
“However, 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.
“For all his long life, His Holiness has opposed the objectification of
women, has supported women and their rights and celebrated the growing
international consensus in support of gender equality and respect for women,”
it added.
It said that the original context of his referring to the physical
appearance of a female successor was a conversation with the then Paris
editor of Vogue magazine.
“She asked if a future Dalai Lama could be a woman. His Holiness replied,
‘Certainly, if that would be more helpful,’ adding, as a joke, that she
should be attractive. He was at least partially responding to the unfamiliar
ambience of working with a team whose prime focus was the world of high
fashion,” the statement said.
– Trump’s emotions –
On Trump, the Dalai Lama, 83, had said: “One day he says something,
another day he says something… But I think (there is a) lack of moral
principle.”
“When he became president he expressed ‘America First’. That is wrong.
America they should take the global responsibility,” he said, adding that
Trump’s emotions are “also a little bit… too complicated”.
The statement from his office made no reference to these comments.
In the BBC interview he had also reiterated his views on immigration into
Europe, saying that the continent should educate and train immigrants with a
view to them returning home.
“But whole Europe eventually become Muslim country? Impossible. Or African
country. Also impossible… Keep Europe for Europeans,” he had said.
The new communique said that these comments “may have been
misinterpreted”, saying that he “appreciates that many of those who leave
their countries may not wish or be able to return”.
“His Holiness regularly cautions against allowing the divisive idea of ‘us’
and ‘them’ to flourish.
“He suggests that a solution to many of the problems we face in the world
today is to remind ourselves that as human beings we are all brothers and
sisters belonging to one human family, and that together we can take action
to address the global challenges that confront us.”
BSS/AFP/RY/1912 hrs