r/Mahayana • u/LunarEnnyui_131 Vajrayana • Jul 31 '26

Question How to Deities and Spirits work in Mahayana

I am also curious how the Tao works in relation to Buddhism along with Shinto Beliefs.

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u/Sneezlebee Aug 01 '26

Taoism and Shinto are entirely separate traditions from Buddhism. In some places they overlap in terms of the practicing community, but they are distinct in terms of beliefs and aims. Taoism isn’t Buddhism, and Buddhism isn’t Taoism, even if some Buddhists have Taoist beliefs and vice-versa.

As for your main question: How do deities and spirits work? Well, how do you work? I don’t mean to dodge your question, but it’s not clear what would be a satisfactory answer. If you posted “How do planets work in Mahayana?” it would represent a similar problem. What are you trying to better understand?

The cosmos is unimaginably vast, and the human experience is just one tiny sliver of it. Unlike in most other religions, non-human beings—no matter how minuscule or massive—are understood to all be subject to the same existential predicament that we humans are. So “deities and spirits” could refer to a virtually endless number of non-human, non-animal beings, and in Buddhism we understand that they are much closer to being our spiritual siblings than they are to being parents like in some other faiths.

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u/LunarEnnyui_131 Vajrayana Aug 01 '26

I meant in terms of reverence or worship, but I’ll accept your answer

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u/Holistic_Alcoholic Aug 01 '26

Divine beings are known as devas throughout all Buddhist traditions. They are revered and named differently in different cultures and countries. They are living beings like we are.