Jack Murray

Prof. Lubin

Religion 195

16 Mar 2003

The Aum Shinrikyo:
Religious Violence

Key words: asceticism, ritual, karma, millennialism, Nostradamus, yoga, Armageddon, Japanese, New Religions

I. Abstract

The Aum Shinrikyo system is a hodgepodge of different eastern religions, put together and interpreted by its creator Asahara Shoko. He founded the movement in 1989, in Japan, and eventually set up centers worldwide, including several cities in the U.S. Asahara believed that society was full of sin and was in decline because of a fundamental decay of spirituality. Aum was also millennialistic, teaching that the apocalypse was coming in 1999, and the only way the world could be saved was if enough people followed Asahara and his message. Asahara cast himself as the savior of the world and as a Christ figure that could stop Armageddon. The path that he set out for his disciples was one that relied on very strict ascetic disciplines such as yoga and meditation. Asahara believed that if he could get enough people to follow him the world would have enough good karma to avoid the coming Armageddon.

II. Scope and Purpose of the System

The main purpose of the Aum Shinrikyo system is to save the world from the apocalypse. This apocalyptic view is not dissimilar from that of other religious movements in Japan at the time. Aum Shinrikyo’s leader and founder, Asahara Shoko, claimed that through his teachings one could experience supernatural powers such as levitation, and avoid the coming doom of the earth. Aum’s worldview is based on the idea that society is sinful and that life is a difficult process of suffering (Metraux 31). By removing oneself from this suffering through strict spiritual practice and finding reality in spiritual disciplines such as meditation and yoga. Asahara claimed that the world could be saved from disaster if he got enough people and enough karma to follow him in this new religion. The people that Asahara recruited to his religion were well educated young Japanese of good background, with an interest in science fiction and technology, and who were fed up with Japanese materialism. This helped him recruit amateur chemists and biologists for the purpose of creating weapons against humanity when he felt his group failing.

III. Authority Structure

a. Sources and Criteria of Valid Knowledge

The Aum Shinrikyo system is an eclectic mix of Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto Christianity and prophesies of Nostradamus, as well as Japanese religious folk tradition and New Age ideas. There is no central scripture; the real guiding principle of the people of this religion is the charismatic leadership of Asahara. From Buddhism Asahara adopted the theory of transmigration and rebirth. That is, the theory that after death the soul is reincarnated based on the karma that one has accumulated. Also from the Buddhist tradition is the notion that the world is used for suffering, and through spiritual practices one can find a path through the suffering to better rebirth and enlightenment. The Hindu practice of Yoga is also emphasized. Along with yoga came a focus on physical and spiritual austerities which were seen as bestowing extraordinary physical powers on their practitioners (Reader 16). Asahara’s millennialistic views came from a combination of his readings of the Revelations of Saint John and the prophecies of Nostradamus, which had just been translated into Japanese in 1973 (Reader 18). Nostradamus predicted cataclysms in 1999, and that a savior would come from the East to save the world. Asahara cast himself in the role of the savior, as did many other religious leaders in Japan around the same time. Asahara’s concept of Armageddon, a final war of mass destruction that will sweep away the impurities of the world, comes from the Bible. He himself claims to be the Christ that saves the world.

b. Methods of Inquiry

The only true teacher of the Aum Shinrikyo system is the founder, Asahara Shoko. He is both the source of religious inspiration and the focus of devotion in the system. Aum developed the view that there was a hierarchic path to liberation via a series of stages marked out by a structured series of initiations, each of which represents a further step upwards toward enlightenment (Reader 30). The first and most common initiation is derived from Hinduism, the shaktipat initiation. In this ritual initiation Asahara (the Guru) places his thumb between the disciple’s eyes, where the third eye of insight is supposed to be, and absorbs the negative karma from him. A series of initiatory rituals was developed involving Asahara’s physical traces; his hair could be kept, or heated in tea and drunk as a spiritual nectar, his bath water could be drunk, and also his blood could be ingested. All of these rituals would transfer powers from Asahara to his disciples; these would also all cost increasing amounts of money. Each of these initiations gained the disciple a higher level of attainment, and intensified the follower’s dependence on the leader (Reader 32). Although leading disciples were thus considered capable of high levels of attainment, and indeed gave lectures and played a major role in spreading Aum’s teachings, Asahara remained the source of final power, granting members promotion through Aum’s spiritual ranks, and remaining the only person who had attained the highest states of spiritual achievement (Reader, 30).

Asahara demanded from his disciples that they cut themselves off from the outside world. They left their home and their families, along with signing over all of their wealth and possessions, to join communes that were self sufficient in preparation for the coming apocalypse. The men and women who were willing to do this were called Shukkesha. The spiritual disciplines that the renunciates followed were, at least in some respects, not all that dissimilar to traditional Zen Buddhist monastic disciplines in Japan: meditation, early rising, physical work, spartan vegetarian food, chanting, having no possessions beyond those needed for basic living, and a small space to sleep (Reader 26). Asahara was convinced that ascetic practice led to extraordinary physical powers. The forms of asceticism became stricter the longer the movement carried on, and there was an increasing view that asceticism was the means of liberation, not just a part. This path of strict ascetic practice appealed greatly to the followers of Aum Shinrikyo and they became increasingly strict in their training in an attempt to obtain higher levels of achievement.

c. Institutions and Professional Structure

The central authority in Aum Shinrikyo is Asahara Shoko. Aum is essentially a “one man religion,” focusing on the divinity and divine powers of Asahara himself (Metraux 21). He did have a few high-ranking disciples, including his wife, who would perform some of the lower rituals for him, and also teach and lecture. In a booklet advertising Aum in the U.S. talks about the teaching staff, Taishis at its center: “Taishis are distinguished disciples of Master Asahara who attained high-level of enlightenment and mastered Samadhi, a super-meditative state.” His numerous claims and assertions of spiritual rank affirmed Asahara’s status as the supremely enlightened one who would build the new kingdom after the millennium.

IV. History

To examine the history of the Aum Shinrikyo system one must study the life history of Asahara Shoko, for his is the embodiment of the movement and the basis of the whole religion. He was born in 1955 in Kumamoto on the southern island of Japan. His name was Matsumoto Chizuo (he changed his name in 1987 for religious purposes) and he grew up impoverished. He was sent to a special school for blind children; he had only 30 percent vision in one eye total. He sought higher education but failed the college entrance exams twice. After his failed entrance exams Asahara took an interest in spiritual matters, he practiced acupuncture, sold herbal medicines, and acquired and interest in divination. In 1981 he became a member of a new religious group called Agonshu and took part in some of its practices, including yoga. By 1984 Asahara had become convinced enough in his own religious progress to establish his own movement. He called it Aum Shinsennokai, with a primary focus on yoga. The religious movement of Agonshu clearly provided a model for Aum. Asahara adapted many of the beliefs of Agonshu and also their drive for publicity. Asahara utilized all sorts of techniques to attract people to his new movement. From cartoons, to videos, to public displays of their physical ability, the Aum used every method they could get their hands on to get the word out about their new religion. In the period leading up to 1986 Asahara had a number of religious experiences which intensified his sense of spiritual power, culminating in a visit to the Himalayas in 1986 when he claimed to have attained absolute enlightenment. Upon his return he declared himself the most spiritually advanced being in Japan (Reader 23). In 1987 he changed his name and changed the groups name to Aum Shinrikyo, the name it got registered under in August 1989, under the Religious Corporations Law after some delays do to protest from the government and parents of Shukkesha.

The hesitation of the Japanese government to grant Aum legal status made Asahara angry and aggressive. He began to preach about world-wide conspiracies, most often lead by the American or Japanese governments, against Aum. He began to order the deaths of many anti-Aum leaders and the leaders of other New Religion organizations in Japan. Faced with the growing threat from the outside world, Asahara began to preach about the “need for Aum to arm itself against society which was bent on destroying it” (Reader 69). In 1990 Aum labs had begun research of many biological and chemical weapons, including cyanide, sarin, and VX gases. In June 1994 Aum successfully, after several failed attempts, released sarin nerve gas into the small residential area of Matsumoto. The attack killed seven and injured hundreds more. By 1995 Asahara and Aum could feel the authorities closing in on them and decided to “go out with a bang.” When he caught wind that the police were going to raid his building soon, Asahara gave the command of a pre-emptive strike on three Tokyo subway trains. During the busy morning commute on March 20, 1995, Aum agents released sarin gas into the air on three trains entering the Kasumigaseki Station. The attack fulfilled Asahara’s own prophecy that one of the first signs of the coming of Armageddon would be the sarin gassing of a Tokyo subway station. It was also an attack on the world that Asahara had long been displeased and had felt tried to destroy his group. Two days after the terrorist attack, Aum’s headquarters was raided and Asahara arrested along with over a hundred Aum members. His trial is still going, but it is expected that he will be executed. There are still hundreds around the world that are committed to Asahara and his message.

IV. Representative Examples of Argumentation

The Aum Shinrikyo staged several demonstrations of their physical powers to draw attention to the achievements in the late eighties. The Aum claimed the ability to suspend virtually all bodily functions, such as breathing, for long periods of time, through their mastery of yoga techniques. In October 1989, an Aum practitioner remained underwater for almost 15 minutes, under the eye of public view and the media. Several other feats include being immersed in an airtight box underwater for 12 hours and various underground burials (Reader 26). The demonstrations were, according to Asahara, scientific proof that his methods worked and that he could produce a community of advanced beings who had transcended the boundaries of normal human ability and who would, thus, be able to survive the cataclysm that was predicted. Asahara placed great faith in the importance of such tests, for they “proved” the truth of Aum’s claims. In the pamphlet for Aum, titled Aum Supreme Truth, there are many endorsements by people in the back.

Asahara claimed to be the supreme guru, and the man who could save the world from the coming Apocalypse. He claimed to be able to teach the world and absorb its bad karma so that the earth could avert the coming doom. In the premier issue of Aum Shinrikyo’s journal Asahara states, “I could not bear the fact that only I was happy and the other people still in the world of suffering. I began to think: ‘I will save other people at the sacrifice of my own self.’ I have come to feel it is my mission. I am to walk the same path as Buddha Sakyamuni.” Asahara believed that he was the supreme truth and that the only way to be saved was to follow his teachings.

V. Suggested Position in Comparative Scales

a. Tradition (1)------Experience (10) Aum (6)

Aum Shinrikyo is based on traditional scripture in Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. But because these religions are all combined together there is not much tradition in the actual religion. The person’s experience is a more important aspect of the system.

b. Centralization (1) -------Decentralization (10) Aum (1)

Asahara Shoko is the focus of the whole religion. Members learn from him and also worship him. There is no distinction between Asahara and Aum.

c. Invisible (1) --------Material (10) Aum (3)

Aum concentrates on spiritual realities, such as enlightenment and attainment and Karma. But Asahara did collect all of their money and possessions for himself.

d. Spiritual (1) --------Pragmatic (10) Aum (4)

The path through suffering is so that one can achieve nirvana. But they also want to save the world from the apocalypse.

e. Divine Being (1) --------Individuals (10) Aum (1)

They worship one person and the one person holds all mighty power over them.

Bibliography

I.

“Aum Supreme Truth.” Pamphlet.

II.

Metraux, Daniel. Aum Shinrikyo’s Impact on Japanese Society. Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston: 2000.

This book was a little more technical than the other ones that I read. It was a good source that told a lot about the history and how Aum came about. It also told of the religious aspect of the system and how it related to others during the same time period.

Mullins, Mark, Kisala, Robert. Religion and Social Crisis in Japan. Palgrave, 2001.

This book was a little broader in that it only had a little section dedicated to the Aum. It mostly talked about how the New New Religions in Japan were affecting its people. It gave a good overview of the violence inflicted by the Aum Shinrikyo.

Reader, Ian. A Poisonous Cocktail? Aum Shinrikyo’s Path to Violence. NIAS Books, Denmark. 1996.

This was the best book I could find on the Aum. It was very well written in a language that was easy to understand. It was very informative about all aspects of the Aum, from the religious background to the arrests of all its leaders.