How I Ended Up with a Metal Box on My Head

Twenty-five years ago, I was invited to an attic apartment and told there would be a great party. It ended with a Danish lama placing a metal box on my head while mumbling something in Tibetan. 😄

About twenty-five years ago, when I met my wife, we were living in a different city, although I originally come from Székesfehérvár. Through a friend, I came into contact with Tibetan Buddhism for a single day.

At the time, I had no idea that my friend was a Buddhist. Years earlier, we had partied together at music festivals. One day, he invited me to an event in an attic apartment and told me it would be a great time. Naturally, I assumed I was being invited to some kind of party.

Instead, I suddenly found myself in the middle of a Tibetan Buddhist ceremony.

It was a very special occasion for them because their lama happened to be passing through and stopped to visit that day—a Danish man called Lama Ole. I had absolutely no idea who he was or what any of this was about.

At the end of the event, he came over to me and, through an interpreter, asked whether I understood what was happening. I lied and said yes.

He then placed some kind of metal box on my head, mumbled something in Tibetan, and that was the end of it.

I never saw either him or my friend again, because only a few days later we moved to our new city, where we still live today.

Years later, I learned that the box he had placed on my head had been given to him by the 16th Karmapa and contained hair relics from several previous Karmapas.

I do not want to make the story sound overly spiritual, but one thing is certain: before that day, I had never done anything particularly significant. I had never even organized a house party. Yet shortly afterward began the strange period of organizing projects, charitable activities, and community initiatives that I still cannot fully explain today.

Of course, it was probably just a coincidence that this encounter happened before all those events. I only wanted to mention it as a small addition to my previous story. 🙂