Ryōbu Shintō approaches the destiny of the dead through a consciously syncretic vision, in which Buddhist cosmology and Shintō reverence for the kami are interwoven rather than sharply distinguished. From Buddhism it takes over the framework of karma, rebirth, and the multiple realms of existence, including the familiar six realms and the possibility of liberation from the cycle of samsara. Ideas of rebirth in paradisiacal realms, such as the Pure Land associated with Amida Buddha, are accepted as meaningful horizons for practice and devotion. Within this vision, ethical conduct and ritual observance in this life are understood to shape postmortem outcomes, so that the afterlife is not a single, fixed destination but a field of possibilities conditioned by one’s actions.

At the same time, Ryōbu Shintō preserves and reinterprets core Shintō sensibilities about spirits and the continuity between the living and the dead. The deceased are regarded as capable of becoming ancestral or protective spirits, standing in close relation to the kami who permeate the natural and social worlds. Through rites, offerings, and the maintenance of ritual purity, families and communities sustain bonds with these spirits, whose well-being and disposition are thought to be affected by ongoing veneration. In this way, the fate of the dead is shaped not only by individual karma but also by the living community’s ritual care.

A distinctive feature of this tradition is the way it understands the relationship between Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and kami. Kami are often viewed as local manifestations or emanations of cosmic Buddhist deities, so that honoring a kami is simultaneously a way of connecting with the salvific power of the Buddha or bodhisattva that it expresses. The spiritual guides and destinations of the dead therefore carry both Buddhist and Shintō identities at once, without requiring practitioners to choose between them. Funeral and memorial practices tend to follow Buddhist forms, yet they are carried out in a world understood to be alive with kami, allowing the dead to benefit from both Buddhist merit and kami protection.

Rather than enforcing a single, rigid doctrine of what happens after death, Ryōbu Shintō leaves room for multiple, overlapping perspectives within this shared syncretic framework. Some may emphasize karmic rebirth and the aspiration for enlightenment or Pure Land rebirth, while others focus more on the transformation of the dead into ancestral spirits closely linked to particular places and lineages. What unites these views is the sense that the visible and invisible worlds interpenetrate, and that Buddhas, bodhisattvas, kami, and ancestral spirits all participate in a continuous spiritual landscape through which the dead journey and in which the living also stand.