Part 2
Link to part 1( What is it, and why is it so important in Buddhism?):
๐ง๐ฎ๐บ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐น ๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐
Why is tamboon; merit making so important, especially for those who keep spiritual beings?
Why does the same amulet seem to work so well for others, but not me?
๐๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ข ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ช๐ค, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ณ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ’๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด.
๐ ๐ฎ๐ธ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐ (๐ง๐ฎ๐บ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ผ๐ป) ๐๐ผ ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ถ
Before we dive into making merits, we need to understand who these spirits are.
The spirits, whose remains are made into amulets, buchas, nam man prai, etc, were mostly people who passed away from suicides, murder or accidental deaths.
They carry a vengeance which has to be appeased by a Monk or Ajarn or otherwise a practioner, before they are willing to lay down the vengeance, and accept negotiations in helping people. In return, they gain merits which lessens their sufferings, and helps them to “find their way” .
Starting from the point of renting the amulet or occult item, one is already doing merit for them, as the money would be use for performing merits by the masters.
However, peopleโ ๐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ง ๐ก๐ข๐ง think of short term gains while making merit, “I make merit for you, you must help me strike a big lottery,” it is not a business transaction, and it doesn’t work that way.
Also, by helping them, you are doing a good deed, which in turns means good karma for yourself, which will lead to positive and good results, making it a win-win situation for everyone involved, but the act of doing should be from the heart rather then to gain anything.
People who make merits should do it sincerely with a mindset of sending that merits to the prai without expectation of any returns. As such, they must have Metta; loving kindness towards any living beings, including family, friends, animals, plants and insects.
Don’t do it for the sake of doing.
Don’t do it out of fear.
Do it with a sincere heart.
Apart from that, they must also have faith in the Kruba Ajarns(the/those who consecrate the prais). While we cannot comment on others, we can confirm that the selective few Ajarn whom we deal and work with on a regular basis, including Ajarn Bee Naka, consecrate prai in such a way that they do not backfire irregardless of a person personality or actions (or lack of).
This is also why we had, even after so many years sticked with just a selectively few Ajarns, and exclude bringing in certain types of amulets.
However, at the end of the day, how the prais choose to assist a person would of course be up to person mindset, whether they are sincere, whether they make merits. ๐๐ก๐๐ข ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ข๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ ๐๐ก๐๐ข ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐, ๐๐จ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง, ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ฉ๐ก๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ข๐๐ฅ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ.
๐ช๐ต๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐บ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ (๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐บ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ฎ ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ) ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐บ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ผ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐, ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐บ๐ฒ?
There are many internal and external factors which can affect the outcome of a situation, like the individual’s Karma (karmic debt), actions done and words said (or the lack of).
Sometimes, it is possible for individual to find that no matter what you get doesn’t seem to be helping at all, or see positive changes, but suddenly evrrything goes crashing down even if you have been regularly doing merits, chanting etc, it’ll be good to take a step back and reflect on why.
It can be a result of one’s character, getting a amulet with the mindset of testing.
It can also be a result of individual looking to obtain short term gains without doing anything.
For example, Ajarn Beeโ had mention this person who he came across. Once a successful business owner, now divorced, business went downhill.
He later found out he was using those “playboy Takrut”, got a mistress, and the wife ended up finding out. Behind a successful man always have a good wife this is an old saying.
So in such cases, while it’s always easier to push the blame to someone else, you can’t blame it on prai(s), if anyone’s to blame, then self-blame, as to why he let his wife found out about it.
๐๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐น๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ง ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ต๐บ?
For example, when wearing a prai amulet, there was some conflict at work. Some people will see it as a sign of backfiring, or the prai causing all this issues. But, if one takes a step back and think, it may be because of certain actions that were done (or not done) which results in it, and perhaps the prai had already help to lessen the impact of the issue already.
๐ ๐น๐ถ๐๐๐น๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐น๐๐ป๐, ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐น
For the average person who really doesn’t want to bother about anything else.
๐
๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐จ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฌ, ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ท๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐๐; ๐ด๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ถ๐๐ฒ๐บ ๐๐ผ ๐ต๐ฒ๐น๐ฝ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฎ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐ฒ. If the company that you are working in doesn’t give you pay for a month or two, will you be happy
Same goes for the spirits, when you don’t make merits for them, they won’t be happy and motivated to help you.
_____________________
Lastly, to finish it up, Prai, Phi, spirits, ghost. There is no reason to be afraid of them. When most people pass away one day, they will also turn into prai, and what is left is just the remains, of their own karma in the previous life.