Ryōbu Shintō approaches the meeting of Buddhist and Shinto worlds not by erasing one in favor of the other, but by layering them into a single, continuous cosmos. Central to this is the honji suijaku understanding: the kami are treated as local, compassionate manifestations of more universal Buddhist deities, especially the Buddhas and bodhisattvas of esoteric Buddhism. In this view, the Buddhist deities represent the essential ground, while the kami appear as their phenomenal traces in the Japanese landscape and mythic imagination. Amaterasu, for example, is interpreted as a manifestation of Dainichi Nyorai, so that devotion to the sun kami simultaneously becomes a way of relating to the cosmic Buddha. This framework allows the Shinto pantheon to remain vivid and concrete, yet it is subtly re-situated within a broader Mahāyāna universe.

The esoteric Buddhist cosmology of the two mandalas—the Womb Realm (Taizōkai) and the Diamond Realm (Kongōkai)—provides another key to reconciliation. These mandalas, representing complementary aspects of reality such as nurturing potential and unshakable wisdom, are used as organizing principles for understanding both Buddhist deities and Shinto kami within a unified structure. In Ryōbu Shintō, the sacred geography of shrines and natural sites is read through these mandalas, so that mountains, forests, and shrine precincts can be experienced as concrete expressions of the Buddha realms. The world of the kami thus becomes a visible surface of an esoteric, mandala-shaped cosmos, rather than a separate or rival domain.

This cosmological integration extends into ritual and practice, where Shinto and Buddhist elements are woven together into a single soteriological path. Shinto rites of purification and festival are combined with Buddhist mantra, mudrā, and visualization, so that approaching the kami also activates Buddhist salvific power. Hybrid ceremonies emerge in which Shinto concerns with purity and natural sacredness are interpreted through Buddhist ideas such as emptiness and dependent origination. In this way, the kami govern the familiar, phenomenal world, while Buddhist principles articulate its ultimate nature, and the practitioner moves between these levels without contradiction.

Through these intertwined doctrines and practices, Ryōbu Shintō presents a cosmos that is not split between two competing systems, but stratified into visible and invisible dimensions. The myths of the kami, the layout of shrines, and the rhythms of ritual life are retained, yet they are read as symbolic expressions of deeper Buddhist truths about reality and awakening. The result is a religious vision in which the Japanese deities serve as accessible gateways to a pan-Asian Buddhist universe, and where honoring the kami becomes a way of aligning oneself with the cosmic Buddha’s wisdom and compassion.