Dalai Lama Feels Fine, Ready To Travel Again
(AFP | Dharamsala | May 15, 2002)
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said Wednesday he was in good health and would go ahead with a trip abroad after taking a month of rest following a bowel infection. 66-year-old Nobel Peace laureate, appearing in full vigour, said he felt "absolutely fine" after a "quite serious" illness.
The globetrotting Tibetan leader went into retreat April 13 at the exiled Tibetan leadership's base in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala, cancelling all public appearances including a trip to North America.
The Dalai Lama said he would travel at the weekend to Australia and New Zealand.
But officials here said Australia has made clear no government official will meet with the Dalai Lama. They accused Canberra of bowing to Beijing, noting that Prime Minister John Howard was due to travel to China on Tuesday.
The Dalai Lama fell ill in late January while attending a Buddhist festival in Bodhgaya, the eastern Indian city where the Buddha is believed to have reached enlightenment.
He received a week of treatment for a bowel infection at a Bombay hospital, which discharged him with a clean bill of health but advised him to rest.
The Dalai Lama said he was helped in his recovery by receiving get-well letters from inside Tibet. "We have been living in separation for the last 43 years but our souls are one," he said.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet for India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. His health is a matter of serious concern for the Tibetan movement worldwide, which fears a leadership vacuum when the high-profile spiritual leader dies.
Friends of Tibet (INDIA),
PO Box 16674, Bombay 400050
www.friendsoftibet.org