Dalai Lama seeks to allay health concerns as success

23/12/2024 12:24

When the Dalai Lama went to New York in June for knee surgery, his followers worried about his overall health and the future of Tibetan Buddhists without him. He told Reuters last week there was nothing much to worry about.



"According to my dream, I may live 110 years," said the 89-year-old spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists when asked about his health and how he was feeling.

The Nobel laureate has been disarming questioners with the same reply for years.



The knee too is improving, he said at his Himalayan residence in Dharamshala town in northern India after blessing more than 300 visitors from India and overseas at a regular audience. "Not much serious problem," he said after walking gingerly with the help of aides, although for longer distances he is taken around in a golf cart.



The 14th Dalai Lama fled to India along with thousands of Tibetans in early 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. Beijing insists it will choose his successor, but the Dalai Lama has said it was possible his incarnation could be found in India and warned that any other successor named by China would not be respected.