MEMPHIS, Tennessee (AFP) – Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Tuesday started a more than two-week visit to North America by learning a contemporary gesture -- the fist-bump.

The Dalai Lama traveled to the southern US city to be honored at the National Civil Rights Museum, located in the motel where rights champion Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968.

The 74-year-old monk, wearing his trademark maroon robes, smiled broadly as the city's interim mayor, Myron Lowery, extended his fist to greet him in a welcoming ceremony at a riverside park.

"Here we also have a tradition -- you ball your first like this," Lowery said as he taught the Tibetan spiritual leader to fist-bump and laughter broke out among the local dignitaries nearby.

"They say you've got a sense of humor. I've always wanted to say, 'Hello Dalai,'" Lowery added, playing on the name of the popular musical "Hello Dolly."

However, the Dalai Lama later voiced discomfort with the fist-bump, saying the greeting invoked thoughts of violence, according to local CBS television affiliate WREG.

The Dalai Lama is set to travel across the United States and Canada until mid-October, holding a series of talks on spirituality but not meeting perhaps the world's best-known fist-bumper, President Barack Obama.

Obama during his presidential campaign last year greeted his wife Michelle with a fist-bump after a televised address, earning the derision of some conservative commentators.

Obama earlier this month sent a delegation to the Dalai Lama's home-in-exile in northern India who voiced support for the Tibetan leader but agreed that the US leader would not see him when he stops in Washington in October.

China, which sent troops into Tibet in 1950 and clamped down on protests last year, strenuously opposes international meetings of the Dalai Lama. It accuses him of being a "splittist," although the Dalai Lama says he is seeking greater rights for Tibetans under Chinese rule.

The Dalai Lama's office said Obama would meet him after he pays his first presidential visit to China in November.

Obama, who has called for a broad relationship between Washington and Beijing, was also meeting Tuesday with Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.