Ryōbu Shintō is marked less by the invention of entirely new rites than by a distinctive way of layering Buddhist esoteric practice onto established Shinto forms. At its heart lies the honji suijaku vision, in which Shinto kami are approached as manifestations of underlying Buddhist deities. This perspective shapes rituals in which sutras are chanted and Buddhist implements are offered before the kami, while the deities are simultaneously honored in their Shinto and Buddhist aspects. Such ceremonies do not erase the older shrine patterns; rather, they reinterpret them so that every bow, offering, and recitation resonates across both religious vocabularies.

A central ritual feature of this tradition is the use of the paired Diamond Realm and Womb Realm mandalas in shrine contexts. These dual mandalas provide a cosmic map through which practitioners visualize the relationship between the visible world of the kami and the deeper reality of the Buddhas. In some rites, the kami are explicitly identified with particular positions or figures within these mandalas, so that worship at a shrine becomes, at the same time, participation in an esoteric Buddhist liturgy. The shrine precinct thus functions as a mandala field, where the ordinary landscape is read as a manifestation of a more subtle, ordered cosmos.

Ryōbu Shintō ritual life also incorporates esoteric Buddhist techniques into the core acts of purification and offering. Traditional Shinto cleansing, such as water purification, can be accompanied by mantras and mudras, creating a joint purification that speaks to both traditions at once. Fire rituals of the Shingon type, such as homa or goma, are adapted to shrine settings, with flames offered on behalf of both Buddhas and kami for protection, blessing, and the removal of obstacles. In these ceremonies, incense, flowers, and other offerings familiar from Buddhist practice are directed to the kami, further underscoring their dual identity.

This syncretic ritual world extends into the rhythm of festivals and the paths of pilgrimage. Seasonal celebrations at shrines are enriched with Buddhist liturgical elements and esoteric symbolism, so that agricultural cycles and communal gatherings are framed within a broader salvific horizon. Pilgrimages to sacred mountains and other revered sites become occasions to honor mountain kami while engaging in Buddhist meditation and visualization, treating the landscape itself as a living expression of cosmic Buddhas. Through such practices, Ryōbu Shintō fashions a ritual environment in which the boundaries between kami and Buddhas, shrine and temple, outer form and inner meaning, are continually traversed and reinterpreted.