Dalai Lama Surgery Successful
The Dalai Lama, the spiritual and former political leader of Tibetans (Buddhists), underwent surgery in India’s capital Delhi to remove a gallstone on Friday. According to hospital spokesmen, the surgery was successful.
The hospital said it was a “routine procedure” and “successful.”
His aide Chhime Chhoekyapa was quoted by news agency Reuters as saying that “otherwise, the Dalai Lama’s health is fine.”
Tibetans’ spiritual leader was admitted to the hospital on Thursday. In August he was also admitted to a hospital, that time in Bombay. He complained about stomach pains then.
Since fleeing Tibet in 1959, the Dalai Lama has lived in Dharamsala, in northern India. He remains a celebrated figure in the West, and a much hated and despised figure in China, which accuses the Dalai Lama of encouraging civil unrest and violence in Tibet, which was occupied by China after the second world war. This occupation continues to this day, and it has been one of the most destructive occupations in history. China has tried to destroy Tibet’s culture, faith, and history almost completely. Many (hundreds of) thousands of monks have been killed by the Chinese in the decades since their occupation of Tibet, and many Buddhist temples were destroyed.
