Pope John Paul II talks with the Dalai Lama during an audience at the Vatican, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2003.
The Dalai Lama's Brown University speech had a surprising swear at the end, according to the institution's stenographer. The Buddhist spiritual leader's thick Chinese accent led to confusion at the end of his talk Wednesday.
While the Dalai Lama spoke before 5,600 at Brown University, he pronounced "forget" in his traditional manner, but the crowd burst into laughter— they thought he swore, saying "f--- it." The stenographer further ingrained the idea, as it was written as such on a screen used for the hearing impaired during the talk.
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"If you feel these points are not much relevant— not much interest," the Nobel Prize winner said about his ideas of a peaceful society, "then forget." While audience members chuckled, the Tibetan monk and Brown University President Christina Paxson remained largely unaware.
To correct the erroneous expletive shown on the screen, the Ivy League school clarified that the 77-year-old did not use a four-letter word to end his talk.
"The Dalai Lama's last word of the day, verified by his personal translator, was 'forget,'" a Brown University representative told the New York Daily News.
This isn't the first time the spiritual leader has had his pronunciation cause confusion among listeners. In Charlottesville, Va. last week, his advice to "forget" teachings that caused contention was misconstrued yet again.
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"We've listened to the video of the Paramount theater talk, and it sure sounds like 'f--- it' to us," Dave McNair wrote for DTM. "What's more the reaction from the audience and the panels clearly suggested they thought he said it too. Everyone cracked up!"
Some years ago, another speech the Dalai Lama had was taped, and the audience giggled at his pronunciation. As always, the Buddhist monk remained blissfully unaware.
"We should forget about our religious differences. And also forget, and forget," he said. When the crowd burst into laughter, he asked, "What did I do?"
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