พระอาจารย์อธิบายว่าเจ้าที่เจ้าทางจะได้รับบุญหรือไม่ ขึ้นอยู่กับว่ารู้จักอนุโมทนาบุญหรือไม่ ไม่ใช่ว่าชอบเครื่องเซ่นไหว้มากกว่าบุญ และควรให้ความสำคัญกับการช่วยผู้อื่นให้เข้าใจความจริงของชีวิตก่อนละโลก โดยการช่วยเหลือผู้อื่นนั้นไม่จำเป็นต้องใช้เงิน ใช้ใจก็เพียงพอแล้วPhra Ajarn explains that whether a spirit receives merit depends on whether it knows how to rejoice in it, not on a preference for ritual offerings — and reminds us that helping others understand the truth of life, like all true goodness, is a matter of the heart, not money.
Do Local Guardian Spirits Prefer Offerings to Dedicated Merit?
Someone asked: they had heard that local guardian spirits (เจ้าที่เจ้าทาง) prefer ritual offerings over dedicated to them — is that true?
Phra Ajarn answered that when merit is dedicated, if the recipient doesn't know how to rejoice in it (anumodana), they simply won't receive it. As for offerings, if a spirit's mind is still coarse and it doesn't know how to rejoice, it's hard to see how merit could be received that way either — not because it fails to recognize goodness, but simply feeling that something is good is itself enough to count as rejoicing in the heart.
Most local guardian spirits are probably not like wandering, homeless spirits (สัมภเวสี). Whether a guardian spirit actually receives what is offered isn't certain either — it depends on each spirit's own mental foundation, , and understanding.
When a Loved One Passes Without Knowing the Truth of Life
The questioner shared that someone close to them had once been overwhelmed by unwholesome states of mind, was mistreated, and turned to another for support, guided by friends of that religion. The questioner felt that if this person had met Phra Ajarn at that time, they would have come to understand life and reality more deeply. That person has since passed away.
Phra Ajarn said that this is truly a pity. Understanding the truth of life correctly matters greatly — one should not die without knowing that truth. What we can do is find ways to help this truth of life reach the world before it's too late for others.
Helping Others Doesn't Require Money — Only a Willing Heart
Phra Ajarn explained that helping others has never depended on money — it depends on the heart. In the Buddha's time, the Buddha himself never used money to help people, even though he had once possessed wealth fit for an emperor. He set the example for the world: that helping others doesn't require money, only a willing heart.
But if someone makes money the foundation of doing good or spreading the teaching, it becomes an excuse: “Without money, nothing can be done — you need money to spread the .” The Buddha showed, by his own example, that with no money at all, as long as there is heart, it can still be done. If we can do good without money, then no matter how many lifetimes we are born into, we can still stand on our own even without it. But if we make money the foundation, and claim that without it we cannot do good or spread the teaching, then life after life we will keep making that same excuse — that without money, nothing can flourish.
Behind that kind of thinking is an unwholesome state of mind steering us. We need to cultivate a heart like the Buddha's — one that still acts even with nothing. The Buddha accumulated perfections () over an immense span of time — some Buddhas over 20 incalculable aeons, some 40, some 80 — building great generosity as a lasting treasure of the Buddhist teaching, to benefit all who would carry the Dhamma forward. That treasure still exists; whoever creates value and benefit for the teaching, that treasure flows through to them.