My parents did work to help support a thai monastery and when I was in my teens and I would be allowed to sort of “hangout” with the head of the monastery where we could talk informally. The monk was revered as the youngest ever to learn all the teaching of buddha and I asked him, why he blesses cars, houses, restaurants when the teachings of buddha have nothing to do with superstitions and even spoke against such things.

He told me that he agreed that the blessings didn’t actually do anything in the sense that he couldn’t imbue some cosmic luck on people by performing these ceremonies, but that people came to the temples with expectations, with pain, and with fear and so he performed these ceremonies even though he didn’t believe in it because it brought people comfort.