September 4, 2008

NEW DELHI (AFP) - Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has 
recovered well from a stomach illness that put him in hospital for 
four days and hopes to resume work at the end of the month, an aide 
said Thursday.

The 73-year-old Nobel peace laureate was discharged on Monday from a 
Mumbai hospital where he had been admitted for tests after suffering 
abdominal pain.

"He is doing well and is now resting in New Delhi for a few days," 
his spokesman, Tenzin Takhla, told AFP by telephone. "He will soon be 
back travelling internationally."

In the weeks preceding his illness, the Dalai Lama had pursued a 
hectic itinerary as he campaigned for improved human rights in Tibet 
while China hosted the Olympic Games.

He is scheduled to hold teaching sessions in Dharamshala, the seat of 
the exiled Tibetan government in northern India, from September 25, 
according to his official website, before travelling to Switzerland 
and Germany.

The Dalai Lama's health scare prompted special Buddhist prayer 
meetings in Dharamshala with dozens of monks and nuns gathering at 
the main temple to pray for his well-being.

The Buddhist monk fled into exile in India in 1959 following a failed 
uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule.

He champions a "middle path" policy which espouses "meaningful 
autonomy" for Tibet, rather than the full independence that many 
younger, more radical activists are demanding.

Still, China vilified him as the "mastermind" of what it called a 
drive to sabotage the Olympics and destabilise the country.

Violent protests against Beijing's rule broke out across Tibet in 
March, sparking a heavy Chinese crackdown that drew global condemnation.