Twitter is canceling the Dalai Lama because he said a female successor should be 'attractive'

Tanya Edwards
Updated
MCLEOD GANJ, DHARAMSHALA, HIMACHAL PRADESH, INDIA. MARCH 20, 2019. The fourteenth Dalai Lama (83 years) and the spiritual guru of the Buddhists from Tibet. In 1959 Mr Tenzin Gyatso which is his real name fled to India after the Chinese invasion of Tibet and since he has been living as a guest of India in Mcleod Ganj near Dharamshala. In good health and spirits he sits in his office and often laughs like a child when engaging in conversations. (Photo by Pallava Bagla/Corbis via Getty Images)
The fourteenth Dalai Lama (83 years) and the spiritual guru of the Buddhists from Tibet(Photo by Pallava Bagla/Corbis via Getty Images)

The Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and the 14th person to hold the title, made waves this week when he said his successor, if a woman, needs to be physically attractive.

“You once said that you would be open to a female successor,” BBC News reporter Rajini Vaidyanathan asked the religious leader, in a video interview published Thursday on Twitter.

“That’s also possible,” the Dalai Lama confirmed.

“You also told one of my colleagues that, that female must be attractive, otherwise it’s not much use,” she continued. “...Can you see why that comment upset a lot of women?”

The Dalai Lama answered, "If a female Dalai Lama comes, she should be more attractive.” If not, "people, I think prefer, not see her, that face."

The reporter asked, "It's about who you are inside, isn't it?"

"Yes, I think both," he said. "Real beauty is inner beauty, that's true. But we're human beings. I think the appearance is also important."

The religious leader also suggested that most people would prefer not to look at a “dead face” and argued that women in the public eye should wear makeup.

People took issue with his comments, calling his holiness “canceled.”

Author Jessica Valenti tweeted that this moment was “about as 2019 as it gets.”

Others just felt disappointed.

Some called out what they felt was the absurdity of his comments, and made jokes.

One person even suggested singer and icon Dolly Parton step into the role.

These weren’t the only remarks the Dalai Lama made that raised eyebrows this week. He also told the BBC that European nations should be obliged to take in those who are fleeing their home countries, but that those people should ultimately be taught skills and return home, saying, “European countries should take these refugees and give them education and training, and the aim is – return to their own land with certain skills.”

He continued, “But the whole of Europe [will] eventually become Muslim country – impossible. Or African country, also impossible.”

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