Please Tell Us The Dalai Lama Did Not Just Say This. Because It Breaks Our Heart

The Dalai Lama, who has not just been a spiritual leader but an institution of peace and non-violence in himself, has always been the kind that people look up to while growing up. As have I, especially in a time where the intolerance and aggression is at its highest. But seems like, we may have bet all our hopes on the wrong person, because what The Dalai Lama recently said literally made us want to rub and check our ears.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Br2OoZJBlxv/

Back in year 2015, in an interview with BBC, Dalai Lama happened to mention that if a woman were to succeed him, to become the next female Dalai Lama, she would have to be attractive. And no he did not mean on the inside. This, being offensive 5 years back also, still stands to offend many for obvious reasons, expect The Dalai Lama doesn’t seem to care.

He stood by his statement even now when he was asked to comment about it in an interview with BBC where he said, “in Buddhist literature, both inner and outer beauty were important.” Now you would see why it didn’t sit right with us or a lot of other netizens, who took to twitter in agitation.

And I’m sure all previous 13 Dalai Lamas were checked if they were attractive too 🙄 https://t.co/vAXkVTFrBn

— Elaine (@ElaineODowd) June 28, 2019

I am curious to know if attractiveness was a quality looked for when monks went to look for him??? ‘We have found the Dalai Lama but wait he is not attractive’

— CláirNiS 🇮🇪💚🇺🇦 (@CChambIRL) June 28, 2019

#IsItOk that The Dalai Lama believes that for a female successor to happen, she must be attractive for anybody to care? #PotKettleBlack

— Jelbrekinator (@Jelbrekinator) June 28, 2019

This coming out of the mouth of a person who has been a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and always managed to be on the right and neutral side of things, preaching world peace and making a case for human rights. So naturally, when he talks about his successor to be a beauty, we are forced to re-think the kind of a place we may have given him and his thoughts over the years. Because last we checked, promoting non-violence and furthering causes such as peace, had no mandate of ‘looking pretty while doing it’, attached to them.

Buddhism may or may not be about just inner beauty, but that doesn’t have to do anything with anyone stepping in a position of influence over others, to have to look pleasant or anything. It is 2019, and this seems like any other sexist trash talk, that might as well have come from Trump, to whom Dalai Lama calls a person without ‘moral principle’, because coming from Dalai Lama, it just breaks our heart and shakes our faith in humanity.