Truth, Transparency, and the Anatomy of a Smear: Setting the Record Straight on His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the “Epstein Files”

11 February 2026 | Tsering Passang

In an era defined by information abundance – and distortion – clarity is both a moral necessity and a civic responsibility. Recent attempts to associate His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama with Jeffrey Epstein represent not journalism, not inquiry, but the calculated manufacture of doubt.

On 8 February 2026, the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama issued a clear and unequivocal statement:

“Some recent media reports and social media posts concerning the ‘Epstein Files’ are attempting to link His Holiness the Dalai Lama with Jeffrey Epstein.
We can unequivocally confirm that His Holiness has never met Jeffrey Epstein or authorised any meeting or interaction with him by anyone on His Holiness’s behalf.”

This statement is not rhetorical. It is a categorical fact.

The Facts: A Forensic Review of the Epstein Files

In late January, the United States Department of Justice released approximately 3.5 million responsive pages pursuant to the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Shortly thereafter, certain Chinese state-affiliated media outlets – including China Tibet Online, ThePaper.cn, CGTN and others – initiated a coordinated narrative attempting to weaponise the release against His Holiness.

In response, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), through its Crisis Management Committee and in consultation with the Kashag (Cabinet), conducted an exhaustive review of the released documents.

The Tibetan Computer Resources Centre (TCRC) undertook a rigorous technical and contextual analysis using replicable methodological standards, including:

• Document acquisition and authentication
• Text extraction and normalisation
• Keyword pattern matching
• Contextual window analysis
• Deduplication and clustering
• Categorisation of references

Initial raw searches showed:

• “Dalai Lama” appearing 154 times
• “Dali Lama” appearing 59 times

However, after filtering for duplicate documents and repeated email chains, unique instances were reduced dramatically:

• “Dalai Lama” and “Dalai” – 59 unique references
• “Dali Lama” – 9 unique references

Crucially, all references were third-party mentions – informal, speculative, or contextual in nature. None established:

• A meeting
• A relationship
• Correspondence
• Direct participation
• Or acknowledgement by His Holiness or anyone acting on his behalf

The Committee determined unequivocally that there exists no evidence of interaction between His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Jeffrey Epstein.

The 2015 Email That Refutes the 2012 Claim

Some reports – most notably an article published on 2 February 2026 by The Financial Express titled “The Dalai Lama met with Jeffrey Epstein in 2012, was named 169 times in new emails” – advanced a narrative unsupported by the record.

In response, CTA Political Secretary Tashi Gyatso formally wrote to the newspaper’s editor clarifying:

• The “mentions” do not confirm any meeting.
• They do not reflect any donation solicited or received.
• Email correspondence from 2015–2017 shows Epstein and his associates attempting to arrange a meeting with His Holiness.
• An email dated 10 May 2015 demonstrates Epstein’s ongoing efforts to secure an audience as late as 2015.

This timeline alone refutes the claim that a meeting occurred in 2012. If such a meeting had taken place, there would have been no need for “desperate attempts” three years later to secure one.

The documentary record therefore undermines the allegation it has been used to propagate.

Transparency as Institutional Practice

Unlike many public figures, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has maintained a comprehensive and publicly accessible record of his meetings and engagements dating back to 1959. No meeting with Jeffrey Epstein appears in that archive – because none occurred.

Moreover, no reputable international news organisation, particularly within the United States where the documents originated, has substantiated the claim of any meeting.

The narrative has instead been amplified primarily through channels with clear geopolitical motivations.

Disinformation as Political Instrument

The pattern is neither new nor accidental. The moral authority of His Holiness – rooted in nonviolence, compassion, interfaith dialogue, and advocacy for human dignity – has long unsettled those who conflate spiritual leadership with political dissent.

Disinformation functions not by proving falsehoods, but by repeating insinuations until confusion replaces clarity.

In this instance, the strategy is transparent:

1. Extract isolated keyword mentions from a massive document release.
2. Ignore duplication, context, and content.
3. Inflate numerical references.
4. Conflate third-party speculation with documented interaction.
5. Circulate through aligned media ecosystems.

This is not investigative journalism. It is narrative engineering.

In a global media environment increasingly vulnerable to manipulation, such tactics demand intellectual vigilance. The harm of disinformation extends beyond reputational injury; it erodes public trust in evidence, method, and truth itself.

A Call for Media Responsibility

The Central Tibetan Administration rightly calls upon independent media organisations worldwide to exercise rigorous due diligence in research and reporting.

Responsible journalism requires:

• Verification beyond keyword counts
• Contextual reading of source documents
• Distinguishing mention from meeting
• Distinguishing solicitation from participation

Failure to uphold these standards risks transforming legitimate press institutions into inadvertent conduits for geopolitical propaganda.

The Larger Moral Context

His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s life work – over six decades in exile – has been defined by moral consistency: nonviolence, compassion, interdependence, and the pursuit of truth through dialogue.

That such a figure should be targeted by opportunistic narrative construction is regrettable but unsurprising. History shows that voices grounded in ethical clarity often attract distortion from those unsettled by them.

Yet facts remain stubborn.

After comprehensive technical scrutiny, contextual analysis, and documentary review, the conclusion is unequivocal:

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has never met Jeffrey Epstein.
Any claim to the contrary is unfounded and constitutes misinformation.

At a time when information can be weaponised, truth must be defended not with outrage, but with evidence.

For a detailed breakdown of TCRC’s methodological review, readers may consult the full CTA report published on 9th February 2026.

In the long arc of history, integrity outlives insinuation.