His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, on Tuesday left Dharamsala for the United States, where he will receive medical treatment and a health checkup at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.

A notice posted on the official website of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama said the revered Tibetan lama would “undergo prostate treatment at [the] Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, followed by a period of rest from the end of January 2016 for approximately one month.”

Before departing his home in northern India, the Dalai Lama told reporters he had been visiting the clinic regularly for health checkups for the past nine years. “The Mayo Hospital usually [does a] medical check-up so then they advise me that I need certain things because of that, you need precaution, some of that. So, now this time [on] the first day [they will carry out a] thorough medical check-up [and] then if they find something [wrong or any] problems then accordingly they can carry [out] treatment," he said. (ANI News)

The Dalai Lama also noted that he had some minor swelling in his right eye, removing his glasses to show the assembled journalists.

Despite his planned month of rest, His Holiness said he would also meet scientists at Wisconsin University during his visit. “I think second week of March, I will return. Then also some program there—I think mainly Wisconsin University, some scientific meeting,” he stated. (ANI News)

The 80-year-old Nobel laureate canceled a schedule series of public appearances in the US in September last year. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic advised several weeks of rest following a medical examination, although no specific medical condition was mentioned.

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Notice (His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet)
DALAI LAMA TRAVELS TO US FOR MEDICAL CHECKUP (Associated Press)
Dalai Lama leaves for U.S. for annual health check up (ANI News)
Dalai Lama Cancels US Visits in October on Medical Advice (Buddhistdoor Global)