I don't think ol' Dali lives a spartan existence.
But he manufactures potent medicine!
"The Lamaist dispensaries bloomed splendidly. The excreta (stools and urine) of higher tulkus were manufactured into pills and sold as valuable medicines. The supreme palliative was of course the excrement of the “living Buddha” (Kundun). When the Fourteenth Dalai Lama was staying in China, his chamberlain collected his excrement daily in a golden pot so as to then send it to Lhasa to be manufactured into a medication (Grunfeld, 1996, p. 22).
Traditional Tibetan medicine, now on offer worldwide, and which the western admirers claim can cure cancer, had to be content with less success in its home country. The majority of the population suffered from sexual diseases. Smallpox was widespread and even the Thirteenth Dalai Lama fell victim to it."
http://www.iivs.de/~iivs01311/SDLE/Part-2-04.htm
I have seen references to this before but this was the only one that I found on Google. Does anyone know more?
Can we get the pills cheaper in Mexico?