Meditation in Ryōbu Shintō is best understood as an esoteric Buddhist discipline, primarily derived from Shingon, that has been woven into a Shintō framework to reinterpret how the kami are approached and experienced. Rather than standing as a separate Shintō invention, it employs Shingon-style methods such as mantra recitation, visualization of deities and mandalas, and focused concentration on body and breath. Through these practices, Buddhist figures like Dainichi Nyorai are contemplated as the ultimate, cosmic forms of the Shintō kami, so that the practitioner’s inner landscape mirrors the doctrinal unity of the two traditions. Meditation thus becomes a vehicle through which the honji–suijaku logic—the idea that buddhas are the “original ground” and kami their “manifest traces”—is not merely believed but directly contemplated.

A central function of these contemplative exercises is to internalize the non-duality of kami and buddhas. By meditating on mandalas such as the Womb and Diamond World, practitioners are led to see the kami as expressions of the same enlightened cosmos represented by the Buddhist deities. This contemplative vision is not purely abstract; it is meant to reshape how ritual, devotion, and daily life are lived, so that the boundary between Shintō and Buddhism is experienced as permeable rather than fixed. In this way, meditation serves as a kind of inner theology, allowing the unity of the pantheons to be realized in the depths of consciousness rather than remaining a merely intellectual doctrine.

Meditation is also tightly integrated into ritual life, especially for priests and advanced practitioners. Silent sitting, mantra chanting, and visualization are employed before and during ceremonies directed to both buddhas and kami, functioning as a means of aligning the practitioner’s mind with the mind of the deity being invoked. These meditative elements do not replace external rites of purification but complement them, adding an interior dimension to the traditional concern with purity. While Shintō has long emphasized outward acts such as harae and misogi, the Ryōbu synthesis uses meditation to cultivate an inner purification, cleansing mental defilements so that the heart–mind becomes a fitting dwelling place for the unified kami–buddha presence.

Finally, the soteriological aim of these practices reflects their Buddhist roots while remaining responsive to Shintō sensibilities. Meditation is directed toward both tangible benefits in this world and a deeper transformation that accords with esoteric Buddhist notions of awakening. By engaging in these contemplative disciplines, practitioners seek not only ritual efficacy and protection but also a more profound realization of the sacred reality that underlies and unites all deities. In this sense, meditation in Ryōbu Shintō functions as a bridge: it joins outer rite and inner realization, Shintō devotion and Buddhist insight, into a single, integrated path.