Aum Shinrikyo Religion

The stories “Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket”, “The Leap”, and “The Trip” all explore aspects that are drastic for the characters and are thrilling to the audience to read. Common elements can be found in each story. Even though each story is similar, each story has a unique way of hooking the reader that stays true to the theme and plot.

This text also shows the extreme lengths that the Japanese government went to in order to destroy perceived outward influence especially in the realm of religion. This text clearly shows the tension between government and religion, and truly expresses the happenings of 17th century Japan through the lens of a human being. While our textbook teaches of the actual events which transpired during the timeline of this novel, the novel is far more real and powerful because it presents the events through the lens of human

Change can be hard, but it needs to grow. Life is all about change. In the book Linked by Gordon Korman. Link is first a troublemaker, then he is forgiven for his mistakes and changes for the better. Link is a popular kid in school who started playing pranks and getting into trouble.

Firstly, the traditions within Shintoism were important to help the Japanese people to connect with their ancestors and the nature around them. The word ‘Shinto’ itself means way of the gods. It is as old as the Japanese culture and was the only religion in Japan until the 6th century. According to the Shinto religion, there exists a basic life force called kami. Kami are close to human beings and respond to human prayers. They can influence the course of natural forces, and human events. Shinto tradition says that there are eight million kami in Japan. Due to their deep respect and love for nature and Japan itself, many shrines were set up in places of natural beauty. Followers went to pray here to receive good fortune and samurai would often go to the shrines to pray for victory before and after battle. Shinto’s traditions involved having a clean lifestyle. They washed and bathed everyday which made most of japan a fresh

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.

Shintoism is known as their first and official religion. No one really knows where the origin of Shinto came from but it impacted the development of historical Japan. A tradition that involves the Shinto shrine is after the birth of a baby, it is named after three days, then after about a month old, and the baby is brought to the Shinto shrine to officially become the member of the community. Shinto was also known as the way of the gods and those who worshipped Shintoism seldom asked about existing with the nature or who the world was formed. In Shinto, there was something known as kami, or god(s); though in some cases kami can also be translated into appearance- where it can be human, nature, or an unmovable object.

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.

Shinto is the indigenous religion of Japan. It can best be described as a structured system of animism. The word Shinto comes from Chinese characters (shen and tao), meaning “divine being” and “the way” respectively. Therefore the total meaning of Shinto is “The Way of the Divine Beings/Spirits.” (British Broadcasting Corporation, 2011) It is unclear when the Shinto belief came about, but it most likely has its earliest roots in animism. These animistic beliefs were expressed in the form of spirits called kami. The kami are beings that are present in all aspects of nature and consist of major deities, ancestor spirits, and minor spirits who have significance in a specific community. (Wilkinson, 2012, p. 263) Several of these kami have had extreme importance in Japanese creation mythology and Shinto belief.

Shinto and Buddhism are two different traditions that have flourished in Japan for hundreds of years. Generally, followers from one of the traditions tend to follow the guidance of the other as well, which makes the relationship between Shinto and Buddhism very rare in world religions. At first, when these two traditions contacted each other in ancient Japan, there was a lot of confusion, but eventually they were able to coexist. However, even though Buddhism and Shinto share similarities regarding flexibility and independence, there are more differences between them proven by Buddhism’s spread to ancient Japan, their contrasting practices and beliefs and the different outlooks on the afterlife.

Shinto, an ethnic, ritualistic religion of Japan, has proved somewhat adaptable to social change and significantly more adaptable to political change within the nation since its initial emergence, with origins which trace back to 300BC . While experts argue that Shinto has been extremely influential in shaping Japanese culture and identity, its popularity has been diminishing since the religion was imposed by the State in Japan’s pre-World War II, evoking a surge of nationalism. In today’s society, the religion has made conscious efforts to regain popularity, however has not been able to wholly adapt to Japan’s modern social context, despite it being syncretic in nature (and popularly combined with Japanese Buddhist or Confucian practices).

However, it would be wrong to suggest that the progressive thinking has not interfered with the basic values of these religions. One thing that this progressiveness has interfered with is folk religion. Today, people in Japan no longer see it as a basic need that shapes their daily life experiences. Instead, they argue that such beliefs make Shinto appear as an indigenous primitive religion. Today, around 80% of Japanese argue that they have no religion. This shows that these progressive thoughts are interfering with the religious thoughts or even the basic belief in religion (Littleton 113). Different from the past, many people today do not belong to any religion because of the effects of these progressive

The national religion of Japan, Shinto, is definitely a unique religion in many ways. It is one of the few religions that someone cannot convert to. In other words, a person needs to be born into it and grow up with it. And unlike many religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, and Confucianism, Shinto has no known founder. With that said, Shinto also has a unique view of the problem of evil and suffering. For some religions, like Christianity, it is black and white on what they believe about evil. For Shintoism, it is not that clear. Their main desire is to reach harmony, but they do not stress evil or sin or suffering as much as other religions do. Yoshida Kanetomo, a prominent Shinto priest during the 15th century, even bypassed the problem of evil and he took a more optimistic approach. This is a theme in the Shinto religion, even mentioning Shintoism as a happy religion. So how do they address the problem of evil? Shintoism addresses the problem of evil in that they strive to drive out evil in order to reach harmony and a state of purity.

The Japanese culture has been greatly influenced by its religions, and one of the most influential religions has been Shintoism. Shintoism has been dated back to 500BC, when the descendants of the sun goddess, Amaterasu-OmiKami, worshiped the gods and goddesses of Japan. Shinto means "way of the gods" and that represents what people who practice Shintoism believe in. Shintoism is a religion based on Japanese mythology, which is centered on a male god, Izanagi, and a female goddess, Izanami. These two gods were believed to have created Japan, which was thought to be the only land in the whole word. The two gods had two children, the sun goddess Amaterasu, and the storm god, Susanowo. These two gods fought over control of the people of

As an ancient religion of Japan, Shinto was originally a combination of nature worship, divination techniques, and shamanism. Meaning "the way of the Gods", the origins of Shinto are not apparent in comparison to other religions, especially other Asian religions and beliefs. With no obvious founder, as well as original written scriptures and authentic laws, a number of theories exist about the origination of Shinto as a religion and its development across the Japanese lands. However, the significance of the religion has shifted the importance of discovering its origins to the religious influences that Shinto has embarked upon Japanese

While many of the ordinary Japanese found Christianity’s views meaningful, the Japanese elite saw it as disruptive to the current system emplaced in Japan. However, some of the elite Daimyo ordered their subjects to convert to the rapidly growing religion. Suspicion of the Europeans intentions caused violence to erupt in major centers like Edo, the capital of Japan and by 1617, persecutions of Christians and Christian converts took hold, nearly wiping out the entire Christian population. Japanese elite, now involved in taking down Christianity, attempted to limit trade with the Europeans to prevent another rise of Christianity in Japan. However, conversions continued secretly