Associated with the belief in Buddhism is the worship of spirits (pi) especially widely performed in the villages in the northeast.
Pi puta is the ancestral spirit and protector of villages, land, forest, and life of villagers. The worship of pi is widespread throughout the rural areas, particularly among village in the northeast. This has been recorded and analyzed thoroughly in works of tambiah 1970, Charles keyes 1989 and the more recent one of tegbaru 1997