The Dalai Lama wins award at 68th GRAMMYs

The 2026 GRAMMY Awards ceremony, hosted in Los Angeles on February 1, recognised outstanding music achievements and awarded the Buddhist spiritual leader—the Dalai Lama—with his first GRAMMY.

The Dalai Lama won the award for Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Recording, competing against Milli Vanilli's Fab Morvan, US Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, this year's GRAMMY host Trevor Noah and actor Kathy Garver.

Released shortly after turning 90 years old, his book titled Meditations: The Reflections Of His Holiness The Dalai Lama reflects on peace and compassion and incorporates music and spoken contributions from international artists like Maggie Rogers and Andra Day.

The award was accepted on his behalf by musician Rufus Wainwright, also one of the artists featured on the audiobook.

In a statement shared on his social media channels, the Dalai Lama said: “I receive this recognition with gratitude and humility. I don’t see it as something personal, but as a recognition of our shared universal responsibility. I truly believe that peace, compassion, care for our environment, and an understanding of the oneness of humanity are essential for the collective well-being of all eight billion human beings. I’m grateful that this GRAMMY recognition can help spread these messages more widely.”

Read this next: Gesaffelstein, FKA twigs and Kendrick Lamar among GRAMMYs 2026 winners

This win, however, was met with controversy in China.

As reported by the BBC, Beijing has criticised the music guild for handing the award to the Dalai Lama. According to China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian, the win displays the misuse of art awards as an “anti-China political manipulation” manoeuvre, a position the government describes as “consistent and clear”.

This news adds to the existing friction between the two parties since last year, when the Dalai Lama confirmed his plans to name a new successor, an action which China considers must follow Chinese laws.

Read this next: The Dalai Lama is dropping his debut album

Notable wins in the realm of dance and electronic music included FKA twigs’ album ‘Eusexua’, which won Best Dance/Electronic Album against Fred Again.., PinkPantheress, Rüfus Du Sol and Skrillex, plus Gesaffelstein’s remix of ‘Abracadabra’ for Best Remixed Recording, beating out David Guetta, Chris Lake, KAYTRANADA and Ron Trent.

Daniela Solano is a freelance writer for Mixmag Asia, follow her on Instagram here.

Cut through the noise—sign up for our weekly Scene Report or follow us on Instagram to get the latest from Asia and the Asian diaspora!