This post is circulating a lot on Facebook:

Lost in Translation: Eat My Tongue

The Tibetan Phrase “Che La Sa”

A key point missing: In Tibetan culture, it is common to see old grandparents not only give a kiss to small children, but to also give a small candy or piece of food to children from their mouths — directly from mouth to mouth. This may not be the norm of your culture, but this is commonly done.

After the Elder gives a kiss and a candy, since there is nothing left in their mouth, nothing left to give, they will say the phrase, “OK now eat my tongue,” (not suck, his Holiness misspoke due to his less than proficient English). The Tibetan phrase is, “Che la sa,” They say that as in, “I’ve given you all my love and the candy so that’s it — all that’s left to do is, “eat my tongue.” It is a playful thing that the children know. This is not really done in the Lhasa region the capital of Tibet as much, but it is more common in the Amdo region where the Dalai Lama is from. However it is definitely a Tibetan custom.

If we are honest with ourselves, we know that when we form an opinion on any topic, without considering many aspects of the context, in any given situation, we are choosing to keep a significant degree of ignorance in our reasoning.