Along with the imperial court, Buddhist temples were also important venues for the performance of gagaku. The sutras describe the heavenly music of the Buddhist paradises and the use of music as an element of worship, so Buddhist ritual in Japan included music from its earliest period, which coincides with the period of introduction of music and dance from the Asian continent. The Heian period (9th to 12th centuries) saw the development of a complex ritual form combining Buddhist vocal music (shōmyō) with gagaku music and dance (bugaku), which gave the worshippers a hint of the beauties of the Buddhist paradises.

Another ritual form using gagaku was the mukae-kō, which ‘re-enacted’ the arrival of Amida and a retinue of bodhisattvas in order to accompany the spirit of a deceased person to the Pure Land, or Western Paradise, of Amida. Yet another was the kangen-kō, in which performance of gagaku instrumental music and various types of vocal music were performed between sections of extensive narrated texts on the Buddhas, Buddhist teachings, Buddhist patriarchs and the like. These ritual forms are still celebrated at a number of Japanese temples.

The strong historical connections between Shinto and Buddhist belief also meant that ritual forms employing bugaku dance were often performed at shrines.