Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama won the Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration, and Storytelling Recording for his audiobook Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a first for anyone who has held the paramount position in Tibetan Buddhism.

The 90-year-old spiritual leader, who couldn’t attend the event physically, 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,” he added.

In the category, Dalai Lama competed against other strong contenders including Kathy Garver (Elvis, Rocky & Me: The Carol Connors Story), Trevor Noah (Into The Uncut Grass), Ketanji Brown Jackson (Lovely One: A Memoir) and Fab Morvan (You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli).

Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which came out on August 29, 2025, features 10 tracks combining his reflections on peace and compassion with music composed by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, along with contributions from artists like Maggie Rogers and Rufus Wainwright.

However, this is not the first time a personality outside the showbiz bagged this award. Former US president Barack Obama won two Grammys for Best Spoken Word Album: Dreams from My Father (2006) and The Audacity of Hope (2008).

His wife Michelle Obama also won Grammys for Best Spoken Word Album for her memoirs Becoming (2020) and The Light We Carry (2024).

In 2012, Steve Jobs received a posthumous Trustees’ Grammy for his contribution to music with the iPod.