The kiss in question is, surprisingly, the Dalai Lama kissing a young boy and asking him to "suck his tongue." The kiss in question concerns a young boy who approach the Dalai Lama at an event in February in northern India. It might be helpful, then, to develop, undoubtedly incomplete, a "symbolism of the kiss." At the extremes are undoubtedly the “kiss of peace,” an ancient Catholic practice found in other Christian traditions as well, and the kiss of death, Judas’s betrayal of Jesus by a kiss (see Matthew 26:48-49 and parallels). Notice that both actions, a kiss of peace and a kiss of death, are communicative acts.

Source: CNN April 21, 2023 20:46 UTC