NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Tibetans' spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, will travel to the United States this month to undergo medical treatment for his knees and will not hold his usual public engagements from June 20, his office said on Monday.
The 88-year-old spiritual leader was advised against any travel last October following a bout of flu, but after recovery he visited Bodhgaya, one of the holiest Buddhist sites in eastern India, in January.
"His Holiness the Dalai Lama is scheduled to travel to the United States for medical treatment on his knees. Upon his return, regular engagements will resume," his office said in a statement.
It did not mention when he would return to Dharamshala, a town in the northern Indian Himalayas where he lives in a compound next to a temple ringed by green hills and snow-capped mountains.
The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet and is regarded by Beijing as a dangerous separatist.
He has worked for decades to draw global support for linguistic and cultural autonomy in his remote, mountainous homeland.