There are a lot of people lacking knowledge of each others religion. At least if you are not 100% into "their" religion, at least some knowledge would be appreciated.

For Bhuddist, a prayed statue for them would carry a soul inside. As TS stated the statue was prayed before, it is not right for the first owner to give it to TS. He/she should have given to temple. But as TS graciously accepted it, the soul of the statue would be at peace. But if abandoned, would prove to give out bad tidings to TS. Once the statue is given to the temple, they would do prayers for it. Last i know it to set the soul free or something. Now this i know because i have talked about it with a lot of bhuddist friends. They said the same thing. The modern bhuddist people are not as superstitious though.

Btw to everyone, i'm Chatholic Christian, i have a Indian neighbour that prays to their god i dunno which one la (got elephant statue), i grew up in malay populated area, and have a lot of bhuddist friends to go to every chinese new year today.

I'm not saying i know every darn religion there is. But at least i know some to know how to gain respect from their practices.