Dalai Lama Wins $1.7 Million Templeton Prize

The Dalai Lama has won one of the world's leading religion prizes, Templeton Prize, for his exceptional contribution to science and religion.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, an exiled spiritual and temporal leader of six million Tibetan Buddhists, a philosopher-scientist, an author, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, received the honor on Thursday, March 29, 2012.

The award honors a living person who has made exceptional contributions to affirming life's spiritual dimension. The Prize is a monetary award of about $1.7 million.

The award has been given to other high-profile religious leaders in the past, such as Mother Teresa and the Rev. Billy Graham.

The Dalai Lama is the founder of the Mind & Life institute for research on science and Buddhism. He lives in exile in India.

The 76-year-old spiritual leader won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for advocating nonviolent liberation for Tibet.