Dalai Lama suggests practicing celibacy to get over a broken heart

He added that he thought the desire for sex was extreme and 'always creates trouble' in an interview with TIME magazine

The Dalai Lama (Getty)

The current Dalai Lama is one of the most important figures in Tibetan Buddhism. He’s received the Nobel Peace Prize, spoke out about women’s rights, astronomy and sexuality, and he’s even had a cup of tea with President Obama.

But now, the Dalai Lama has even reached out to offer his advice on modern relationships, even if he doesn’t admit to ever being in love before.

His Holiness sat down with TIME magazine to chat about all kinds of advice, including growing old, the tension and future of Tibetan Budhists and even an inevitable meeting with Pope Francis.

But they also talked about less politically-charged things, like how you heal a broken heart. And the Dalai Lama had some interesting advice.

“Practice celibacy,” he said. “If you look at the nature of strong attachment, underlying that strong attachment is a clinging, grasping, and if you look at other reactive emotions that arise, actually it is strong attachment that underpins hatred, anger, jealousy and so on, so if you somehow are able to look at this and recognise that a large part of the reception is perception, that could [cure] some of this strong grasping.”

Right.

He also sheds some light on his own, erm, strong grasping, describing the mindset you need to be a dedicated monk.

“I always remember, in a dream, if… a beautiful woman or something like that, I remember I am a monk. It is very helpful.”

The interviewer goes on to ask if that sort of un-grasping is necessary for people who aren’t monks, to which he replies “I think the desire for sex goes extreme, always creates trouble. So that I think, in Western culture, there is a lot of emphasis on sensuality, and sexuality is part of that.”

His comments come shortly after his appearance at Glastonbury this year, where he preached “love and tolerance and fairness” and said he thought the violence in the Middle East was “unthinkable”.