In a BBC interview, he explained that he’s been thinking about the 15th reincarnation long and hard for more than a decade since a reporter asked him about it in Paris.
Advertisement
“No. True”, the spiritual leader said laughing.
The Dalai Lama has astonished his millions of followers by declaring that any female successor to his role will have to be “very attractive” to do the job.
To which the Nobel Prize victor replied,”Any female Dalai Lama must be attractive, otherwise not much use”.
While the religious leader is known for his tolerance, he has made similarly unsettling comments before.
The interviewer says, “You’re joking, I’m assuming…”
The Dalai Lama, who fancies himself a feminist, may find himself in hot water for his decidedly misogynist take on a woman Dalai Lami in a new interview with the BBC’s Clive Myrie. “Or you’re not joking?” He claimed that he had said at the time that, ‘a woman Dalai Lama would be a good thing in our troubled world, as she would have “biologically more potential to show affection and compassion”‘.
“So you can only have a female Dalai Lama if they’re attractive?”
The comment, read from this light, is then a joke criticizing the existing state of inequality that women face rather than a sexist remark.
Advertisement
He also contended a female Dalai Lama would be more compassionate, due to biology.
