Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama announced on Sunday that he is in excellent health following assurances by doctors that he is cancer-free during an annual medical check-up last month in Minnesota.
Addressing hundreds of Tibetans who had gathered in San Diego, California, to hear him speak, the exiled spiritual leader said that doctors in Rochester, Minnesota, had found nothing left of a “small sign of cancer” in his prostate gland they had identified and treated two years before.
“This time during the examination at the Mayo Clinic, they saw no trace of it. It is completely cured,” the Dalai Lama said.
“I arrived [at the clinic] on June 13, and a medical exam was done on the 14th,” the Dalai Lama told the crowd on June 18, a day after giving this year’s commencement address at the University of California at San Diego.
“I was told that my health was very good,” he said.
The Dalai Lama’s scheduled appearance at UC San Diego had drawn controversy early on, with Chinese students at the university protesting his proposed presence on campus.
Six students walked out on his address to students, parents, and faculty on Saturday.
Recognized around the world as the face of Tibet’s struggle for greater freedom under Chinese rule, the Dalai Lama is deeply revered by Tibetans both in exile and living in Tibetan regions of China, where public prayers on his behalf or the display of his photograph frequently draw harsh punishment.
The health of the almost 82-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader is a cause of constant concern for followers and well-wishers around the world, as Chinese leaders vow to replace him with a “reincarnate” Dalai Lama of their own choosing when he eventually passes away.
Reported by RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.