BARCELONA, Spain – Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will not take part in an international culture festival in Spain because his doctors have advised him to rest after a punishing travel schedule.
“As a result of a persistent cough developed on account of an exhausting and hectic schedule, his holiness the Dalai Lama has been advised by doctors to take complete rest for at least two weeks,” said a medical statement released Friday by the organisers of Barcelona’s Forum 2004.
The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s most revered spiritual figure and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, fled Chinese-occupied Tibet in 1959 after a failed coup, but in recent years has been trying to engage Beijing in negotiations over a potential return.
