Dalai Lama: My female successor will have to be good-looking

THE DALAI Lama has astonished his millions of followers by declaring that if a woman were to take over his role, she would have to be “very attractive”.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, a selfdeclared feminist, stunned a BBC interviewer by saying that any female successor – or reincarnation – would be unsuitable if she was ugly.

“That female must be attractive, otherwise it is not much use,” he said.

The 80-year-old Dalai Lama made his remarks during a nine-day visit to London, where he is promoting the concepts of compassionate and considerate behaviour.

Interviewed by the BBC newsreader Clive Myrie, he was asked first whether it was possible that a woman could take over the role. He confirmed enthusiastically that it was, and then said that in a previous interview, he had told a French reporter that a female Dalai Lama would be a good thing, as she would have “biologically more potential to show affection and compassion”.

He then leant forward to Myrie with a smile and added: “Then I told that reporter, ‘If it is a female, the face should be very attractive.’”

Myrie retorted: “You are joking, I am assuming. Or you’re not joking?” The Dalai Lama made it clear he was not. “It’s true,” he replied. Somewhat taken aback, Myrie then moved the conversation on, asking the Dalai Lama about his “role as a religious rock star”.

Despite his comments jarring somewhat with his liberal image, the BBC chose not to highlight them in subse- quent news coverage. The interview was broadcast three days ago, but in an accompanying online article, his comments were not included.

Instead, the summary referred to his comments urging European countries not to turn away refugees from the Middle East, with a headline: “Do not reject refugees because they are Muslim.”

However, his remarks about women were picked up by feminist websites.

“You’d think that as someone who’s all about learning and enlightenment, he’d have figured a few things out,” read one posting on the feminist blog Jezebel.com.

A BBC spokesman declined to comment on why the corporation had not given more prominence to his remarks, saying only: “If we thought it was a big news line, we would have done so.” The interview remained on the BBC website, she added.