Aum Shinrikyo

It is not viewed as an association since a government does not drive it, there are no social events and no enrollment procedure.

Religious terrorism is a sort of political viciousness inspired by a flat out conviction that an extraordinary force has endorsed and charged terrorist violence

Mark Juergensmeyer argues that: religious often provides participates in transnational terrorist movements with the violent certainty necessary to develop extraordinary motivation and to engage in violent actions that appear to violate ethical precepts.

There are many aspects of this world such as culture, technology, or art that have been influenced by other things. The way that things influence each other has allowed for new possibilities and ideals to be formed. Religion is no exception; there have been many instances where religions have influenced each other and blossomed due to new ideas being presented. A good example of this the relationship between the two religions: Buddhism and Shinto. Buddhism was brought into Japan during the early 6th century from Korea, and was later institutionalized as the state religion in the late 6th century by Prince Shōtoku. The Prince was a great patron of Buddhism and by having made it the state religion, it would help Buddhism spread. However, Japan was not without its own religion—Shinto—which had been there for many years prior to the arrival of Buddhism. With Buddhism gaining traction in Japan with the help of Prince Shōtoku, what then does it mean for the Shinto religion? However, Shinto was not long forgotten, which leads to the question: how did the two religions, Buddhism and Shinto, interact with each other when Buddhism arrived in Japan? In this essay, I will discuss how both Buddhism and Shinto were closely tied to each other in Japan, and how they would influence each other in different ways that allowed them to grow into new directions.

Since Japan's earliest days, Shinto has been the code of honor and action for the Japanese. It is also a polytheistic religion, they believe there is a God for everything.(brittanica)

“Stairs narrow toward the top. It becomes harder to turn back with each step” (Kershaw, 2010). As said before, there is not a “cookie cutter” definition of what creates a terrorist. One thing is very evident, the radicalization process of an individual is complex, diverse, and is often comprised of idiosyncratic characteristics.

Shoko Asahara, who was born Chizuo Matsumoto, during his stay in India in 1986, while he was on various religious retreats in the Himalayan Mountains, claimed to have found enlightenment and upon his return to Japan founded the group Aum Shinrikyo in 1987. The group started out with a small following from the yoga studio, Aum Shinsen-no kai, he and his wife, Kazuko, owned and operated. Eventually word starting spreading about his so-called “teachings of the supreme truth” (World Religions and Spirituality Project VCU, Jackie Fowler, 2001). Asahara claimed that he had the power to read minds and because of his enlightenment, claimed to have visions or prophesies, as he would call them, about future events.

Aum Shinrikyo was a New Religious Movement that was cast into the public spotlight after members of the group took part in a religious terror attack in Tokyo in 1995; however, as violent this act may have been, Aum Shinrikyo did not begin as a violent religion. Instead, it was shaped into one over time as the religion slowly began on the path to introversion and eventual shunning of the greater society as whole, generating a following that was skeptical of the dominant society, and held the power of the guru above everything else.

On March 20, 1995, five male members of an apocalyptic Japanese cult released a lethal dose of sarin gas into the Tokyo subways, killing 12 and wounding thousands more (Olson, 1999:314). The men responsible were astrophysicists, doctors, and electronics engineers who graduated at the top of their classes (Hudson, 1999:140, 142). All belonged to Aum Shinrikyo, a cult fuelled by the beliefs of an inevitable apocalypse and that salvation could be provided through membership in the cult. Under the control of a partially blind guru, Shoko Asahara, cult members willingly cut all ties with their families and friends, leaving a normal life for one of little sleep, intense spiritual training, and meager meals. This paper details the spiritual beliefs of the Aum and the daily routines of its followers, including the lives of children in Aum communes and the distribution of punishments for minor acts of disobedience. The ways in which Aum Shinrikyo and its members counter Japanese capitalism, anomie in Japanese society, and stereotypical notions of cult members will be discussed. The creation of members’ sense of self through their achieved identities as cult members and the construction of a spiritual lifestyle that superficially opposes a lifestyle of consumption will also be examined.

No government has sponsored Aum Shinrikyo, but Japan previously recognized it as a religion. The United States, Japan and other countries recognized Aum Shinrikyo as a terrorist organization in 2007. Followers of Aum Shinrikyo exist around the globe, particularly in the United States, Russia, and Montenegro. As of 2016, Russia aggressively tracks Aum Shinrikyo members now, but previously allowed the cult to broadcast on state-owned television and radio stations. Montenegro deported over 8000, members (Chan,

Because of this, Buddhists do not fear death, because they do not fear the loss of one's life or identity. This fearlessness in death can be paralleled with the samurai. This freedom from fear is consistent throughout all of the samurai's life. Whatever the daimyo tells a samurai to do, he will do regardless of personal risk. By detaching himself from the thought of risk, or of danger or death, and of the worry of morality, the samurai is able to remain more loyal to the daimyo. Complete loyalty is only possible through detachment from personal risk, morality, and to a lesser extent thought. Other parallels between Buddhism and bushido can be drawn also, particularly in the concept of no thought.

Investigation: The Japanese religions of Shinto and Buddhism are two very unique religions that, despite having different origins, ended up becoming an amalgam of rite, practice, and belief. Shinto, one of the major religions of Japan, has existed since prehistoric times. “Shintoism”, explains Meg Greene, author, “[does not] have a founder, nor does it have sacred scriptures like the Sutras …the religious texts of the Hindus.” Indeed, the history of Shinto was so vague that it did not even have a true name until the word ‘Shinto’ was borrowed from the Chinese.

Religious terrorism occurs when the use of terrorism is systematized by an ideology and fanatical interpretation of a religious text. Terrorist group functioning in the absence of this pretext create junk. Religious terrorism functions on the basic of five essential principles. These are: means justify the end, holy war, blind obedience, absolute truth claims and the ideal times . Kimball explains that ‘truth claims’ are essential point in a religion “at which divergent interpretations arise. Extreme interpretations of ‘truth claims’ provoke the ideology upon which religious terrorism is based. However the “authentic religious truth claims are never as inflexible and exclusive as zealous adherents insist. The staunch ‘truth claims’ professed

On March 20, 1995, members of the Asahara Shoko lead Aum Shinrikyo cult boarded subways and released deadly sarin gas on the commuters of Japan. Twelve people died, and over 5,000 travelers sustained permanent damage to their sight. One of the few terrorist attacks in Japan, the Tokyo sarin gas attack was devastating not only to Japan, but the world. Most of the world was left wondering how this could happen in such a seemingly peaceful country. However, beneath Japan’s facade, or tatemae, the truth, or honne, was that Japanese culture was to blame. “Asahara Shoko… and his immediate followers… were born of and nourished in the soil of contemporary society” (Shimazono 382). The problems within society lay in the educational, religious, and

Terrorism is used around the world to create fear and influence the public on political views (Siegel, 489). There are four views of terrorism including the psychological view, socialization view, ideological view, and the alienation view. A religious terrorist would most likely fit under the ideological view. In this view the terrorist feels the need to change a wrong opinion and believes that, because they are sacrificing themselves for something they believe so strongly in, it justifies the damage and harm done to innocent people (Siegel, 490). They use terror to create fear in anyone who opposes them and attract followers to their religion. In short, terrorism is widely used for political