Japanese Buddhist pantheon
Wikimedia list article
The Japanese Buddhist pantheon designates the multitude (the pantheon) of various Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and lesser deities and eminent religious masters in Buddhism. A Buddhist pantheon exists to a certain extent in Mahāyāna. Still, it is especially characteristic of Vajrayana Esoteric Buddhism, including Tibetan Buddhism and, in particular, Japanese Shingon Buddhism, which formalized it to a great extent. In the ancient Japanese Buddhist pantheon, more than 3,000 Buddhas or deities have been counted, although now most temples focus on one Buddha and a few Bodhisattvas.
History
Pre-sectarian Buddhism had a somewhat vague position on the existence and effect of deities. Indeed, Buddhism is often considered atheistic on account of its denial of a creator god and human responsibility to it. However, nearly all modern Buddhist schools accept the existence of deities of some kind; the main point of divergence is the influence of these deities. Of the major schools, Theravada tends to de-emphasize the deities, whereas Mahayana and Vajrayana do not.
The rich Buddhist pantheon of northern Buddhism ultimately derives from Vajrayana and Tantrism. The historical devotional roots of pantheistic Buddhism seem to go back to the period of the Kushan Empire.
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