Stop the sexism, your holiness: Why should the Dalai Lama get away with making remarks that would see other men rebuked?
The Dalai Lama has said a female successor to him would need to be attractive. He then apologized. But this isn't even his first time. Just what is he trying to preach?
Frankly speaking, it requires a great deal of sexism to objectify women in response to a question asked by a female interviewer — especially when it is not your first time! Mr Lhamo Thondup — famously known as ‘His Holiness, the 14thDalai Lama of Tibet’ — though seems undaunted. As I see it, following his recent shenanigans, he appears a master of throwing sexist remarks at women — and then getting away with it. Given the outrage we see all around us at sexism directed towards women by filmmakers, politicians, et al, this seems ironic to an extreme.
When he was first asked in 1992 by Vogue’s Paris editor in an interview about the possibility of a female Dalai Lama in future, he had responded, “Certainly, if that would be more helpful”, adding further that she should be attractive.
Again, in 2014 in an interview with Larry King, on The Larry King Show, he recalled what he said in 1992, and to reinforce it, he made awkward facial expressions as well, purportedly to show how an unattractive woman to him looks.
In 2015, to the BBC, he said that a woman Dalai Lama will not be of “much use” if she is not good looking. And finally in 2019 — just last week — he repeated the same sort of comments as he said that for human beings, “the appeal is also very important”, and therefore, “the people will not see that face (of a future female Dalai Lama if she is not attractive).”
Preaching the message of equality, love, compassion, justice and, very importantly “of the importance of inner beauty”, he seems markedly unwilling to accept what he calls a ‘less attractive woman’ as his successor. I think this is indeed pure hypocrisy. But for many, “His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama”, was only trying to be a little humorous with his four times repeated ‘sexist remarks’ — and therefore, this should be overlooked; after all, he is preaching the lessons of humanity and equality at the same time. “Buddha on the first day totally rejected the caste system... and (he) treated equally, male and female,” he said, after laughingly articulating the importance of attractiveness for a female Dalai Lama, thus presenting to you, ladies and gentlemen, the first-ever “Paradoxical Dalai Lama”.
Generally, repeating the same mistake more than thrice is not a mistake — it simply shows that you are “not beautiful from inside,” no matter how attractive your hair is, or ‘how shiny your bald head is!’
His comments sparked outrage on social media — to cool things down, his office issued a clarification on the official website. It says, “He is deeply sorry that people have been hurt by what he said and offers his sincere apologies.”
Does it work like that, really? You keep doing the same thing over and over again and then try to get away with it by offering a ‘humble’ apology! No, sir. You seem to think that women must be attractive if they are to preach a message of love, humanity, compassion and equality; as if they are somehow intellectually or spiritually weaker than men, and to acquire the same position as men have, it is important that they possess a “(good) face” — I think anyone who thinks like that is absolutely disgraceful. All human beings are equal, and no discrimination should be made on the basis of gender, on 'attractiveness', caste, culture, religion, sexual orientation, etc.
For the last 60 years, Mr Thondup — the Dalai Lama — has been living as a refugee in India. He has set up a Government of Tibet in Exile in Dharamshala. India had accepted him with open arms, and after this long period, he and his followers are indeed living happily there. Yet, again, most ironically, in the same interview last week, the Dalai Lama reportedly said that Europeans should better keep Europe for European people, and after getting an education and acquiring skills, refugees must leave back to go back their homelands and make contributions for development there.
With a burst of laughter — as if the refugee crisis and desperate migration is a joke to him — he also reportedly said that because Europe is climatically cold, migrants from Africa, Afghanistan and the Middle East are better in their own homelands.
Quite honestly, I wasn’t expecting such a view coming from a person of this stature. I was appalled. And now, I can only say, dear Tibetan people, you had better choose a female Dalai Lama for the future. For him, who knows, migration could eventually turn Europe into “a Muslim country” or “an African country.” Following the Lama’s logic, one might even conclude that the whole of Himachal Pradesh would turn into a “Tibetan Buddhist Himachal Pradesh” if the Dalai Lama and his followers won't return to their original homeland, Tibet. A heartless person could even ask, living as a refugee in India, he must have acquired a lot of education and productive skills; when he is going back to Tibet to contribute to its socio-economic development?
Also Read: Kabir Singh Movie Review: Shahid Kapoor romanticises toxic masculinity, and it's not good