The Dalai Lama's Grammy proves art is drowning in politics

Yes, you read that correctly – the 90-year-old Dalai Lama has won a Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Recording. Yet this accolade was not earned through vocal clarity, narrative finesse or technical excellence.

Listen to the audiobook ("Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama") yourself: the delivery is uneven, the diction often muffled, the editing jarring. Even though it is interwoven with Indian classical music, it lacks the polish expected even of amateur narrators, let alone Grammy contenders. Yet it won. Why? Because in today's cultural awards landscape, political symbolism has eclipsed artistic merit.

China's Foreign Ministry called it what it is: an attempt to weaponize art for anti-China agendas. And they're right – not out of reflexive nationalism, but because the pattern is undeniable.

A Grammy that forgot it was about sound

The Grammy category was originally conceived to celebrate technical mastery and artistic merit in music and the spoken word. Now it doubles as a podium for global influencers. This particular category has long favored public figures with political or social clout over professional narrators.

Over the past two decades, a significant number of winners — including politicians, public figures, and media personalities — have claimed the award. Notable recipients include Jimmy Carter (2007, 2016, 2019, 2025), Michelle Obama (2020, 2024), Barack Obama (2006, 2008), Bill Clinton (2005), and Rachel Maddow (2021).

Viewed in this light, the award functions less as a recognition of auditory artistry and more as an extension of a symbolic tradition, one in which prominence and influence often eclipse execution.

The manufactured image of 'His Holiness'

Let's be clear: the image of the Dalai Lama as a gentle spiritual sage is a post-1959 invention – carefully polished for global consumption.

While his audiobook promotes peace, compassion, environmental care and human well-being, the Dalai Lama's contemporary global persona as a spiritual authority – widely addressed as "His Holiness" – merits closer scrutiny. This image has often overshadowed his long history of political activism.

Prior to 1959, Xizang operated as a feudal theocratic serfdom where the Dalai Lama sat atop a rigid hierarchy. According to a 1950 official survey, over 90 percent of the population in Xizang were serfs – legally bound to estates, stripped of basic rights and subjected to brutal punishments. Life expectancy? Around 35. There was no "Shangri-La," only systemic oppression masked as divine order.

It was only after democratic reforms that ordinary people in Xizang gained land, schools, hospitals and legal rights. Today, the average life expectancy in Xizang has risen to 72.5 years, according to the latest official sources. This marks a dramatic improvement in healthcare, poverty alleviation and nutrition across the plateau, and a tangible manifestation of genuine respect for human rights.

From CIA asset to global image rebranding

The Dalai Lama's rise to international prominence was also shaped by Cold War geopolitics. Declassified CIA documents confirm that from the 1950s through to the 1970s, the agency provided substantial funding, military training and logistical support to anti-communist networks in Xizang, with the Dalai Lama's entourage playing a central role. Annual covert assistance reportedly reached $1.7 million, aimed at sustaining armed resistance within Xizang (Los Angeles Times, 1998).

Only after the Cold War ended, and as Western powers pivoted toward soft power and cultural diplomacy, did the Dalai Lama recalibrate his public image. Emphasizing nonviolence, compassion and spiritual wisdom, he transitioned from a figure associated with armed opposition to a globally celebrated moral icon. Western media, academia and cultural institutions eagerly amplified this curated persona, effectively recasting a politically backed exile into a symbol of universal peace.

Awards for art or political theater

China's rise has unsettled Western hegemony. Unable to contain China through politics, economics or military pressure, the West has turned to its most familiar instrument: information warfare. Over the years, it has weaponized cultural platforms – from music awards to film festivals and art exhibitions – transforming spaces meant to celebrate creativity into instruments of narrative control.

In this context, the Dalai Lama's Grammy is not about artistry or craft. It's about legacy laundering. It rewards not what was said, but who said it – and what that figure symbolizes in a carefully curated Western narrative. When cultural awards abandon artistic merit in favor of ideological alignment, they forfeit their integrity.

If the Grammys wish to remain relevant, they must return to one immutable principle: excellence over symbolism.

Otherwise, they risk becoming not arbiters of culture, but amplifiers of bias.

Min Rui is a commentator on cultural affairs. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.