Minnesota Tibetan community relieved to see healthy-looking Dalai Lama

Members of Minnesota's Tibetan community were elated and relieved Wednesday morning after meeting with the Dalai Lama in Rochester and seeing that he looked to be in good health.

"He's very, very well," said Thupten Dadak, founder of the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota. "He's no different than a few years ago. Very charming, and very happy to see the community."

The 80-year-old religious leader met with a packed crowd at the Civic Center in Rochester for more than an hour, talking only briefly about himself and focusing on the importance of maintaining Tibetan culture and language and living with kindness, Dadak said.

"As the conversation rolled forward, he became more animated. He clearly has the vitality to teach," said Nancy Dadak, Thupten Dadak's wife. Besides a problem with an ailing knee, the couple said, the Dalai Lama said his health was good.

"The doctors are telling him he's not 18, he's 80, and that they want him to pace himself accordingly but that his health is sound," Nancy Dadak said. "He has a nonstop schedule and I think that it's wonderful that people are recognizing the need to protect his schedule a little more."

The religious leader had been at the Mayo Clinic for a medical evaluation and canceled his U.S. appearances for October after doctors advised him to rest. The clinic said Wednesday that he is no longer a patient there.

The religious leader has routinely sought medical care at Mayo.