Dalai Lama Ailing

The Dalai Lama is being treated for exhaustion and the early stages of pneumonia, sources close to the religious leader said Monday.

Traditional medicine practitioners and doctors have prescribed bed rest for the Dalai Lama for at least two weeks, after which his condition will be reevaluated. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

The 63-year-old Dalai Lama canceled appointments, and may not be well enough to take part in a series of religious and cultural events this week and next. The February-March period is the most important in the Tibetan calendar.

The Dalai Lama's administration has postponed two weeklong Buddhist teaching sessions that were to have begun March 3. His lectures on Buddhist doctrine are held every year and attract thousands of visitors, many of them Westerners.

This year, as many as 5,000 Tibetans are expected to cross the Himalayas from Tibet to India to hear the Dalai Lama's sermons. Six hundred Westerners are also expected to attend.

Another important prayer event, Monlam, occurs on March 10. The day marks the 40th anniversary of a failed uprising that resulted in the Dalai Lama fleeing Tibet. It is not clear whether the leader will be able to deliver a statement written for the occasion as planned.

Over the years, thousands of Tibetans have joined the Dalai Lama in India, where he leads a shadow government in the northern city of Dharmsala.

The Buddhist leader travels the world to speak out against what he calls China's suppression of Tibetan culture, and to call for more autonomy for the Himalayan province. He remains popular among Tibet's fervently Buddhist people, despite decades of religious oppression.