Aum Shinrikyo (religious movement)
Aum Shinrikyo, meaning "Aum Supreme Truth," is a Japanese religious movement founded in 1987 by Matsumoto Chizuo, also known as Asahara Shoko. Initially based on traditional Japanese Buddhism, it incorporated elements from various religious traditions, including Hinduism and Christianity, and embraced a millenarian worldview predicting a transformative doomsday. The group attracted a sizeable following, peaking at around 50,000 members in the early 1990s, primarily in Japan and Russia. Aum gained notoriety for its violent actions, culminating in the infamous sarin gas attack on Tokyo's subway system in 1995, which resulted in numerous casualties. Following this, the Japanese government disbanded the group, and Asahara was executed in 2018 after being convicted of murder.
In the aftermath, splinter groups emerged, including Aleph and Hikari no Wa, both of which disavowed the violent actions of Aum and sought to distance themselves from Asahara's legacy. Despite this, Aleph remains designated as a terrorist organization by several countries. The movement’s core beliefs included a version of Buddhism that justified violence as a form of “compassionate killing,” aiming to prepare followers for an apocalyptic scenario where Aum would assume control of Japan. Aum's history illustrates the complex interplay between religious belief, social dynamics, and extreme actions, raising significant questions about the nature of faith and authority.
Aum Shinrikyo (religious movement)
Aum Shinrikyo is a Japanese religious movement that is often considered a cult and a terrorist group. The name, translated from Japanese, means "Aum Supreme Truth." Aum is a mystical Hindu syllable. The movement’s philosophy includes a millenarian belief that there will be a final doomsday, a great disaster to end or transform the world. Matsumoto Chizuo, whom the group’s followers called "Master Asahara Shoko," started the movement in 1987. While the movement stemmed mainly from traditional Japanese Buddhism, it incorporated elements of other religious traditions and prophesied fundamental transformation of the world under its leadership. The group grew to as many as 50,000 members in the early 1990s, with the majority of these members in Japan and, to a lesser extent, Russia. The movement espoused violent acts of aggression against dissenters or opponents, and came to worldwide attention for deadly chemical weapons attacks in 1994 and 1995.
History
Asahara Shoko was born in 1955 with partial blindness, which may have contributed to his rejection by medical schools in the mid-1970s. He opened his own business selling pharmaceuticals, specifically Chinese medicines, and was a member of a small religious movement called Agonshu. In 1982, Asahara was arrested for selling bogus pharmaceuticals, and his business subsequently went bankrupt. Two years later, he opened a yoga school in Tokyo called Aum no Kai (Aum’s Group). The business offered religious seminars as well as yoga training. In 1986, Asahara journeyed to the Himalayas and returned with a revelation: he was a prophet. He had a vision that the Hindu deity Shiva had asked him to be the leader of God’s army. Asahara believed that he was chosen to give rise to a new kingdom where the people who lived in the kingdom held physic powers. This is when Asahara adopted his name that he would be known by to his followers. He also began to call himself the "Savior of the Country" and the "Holy Pope" and was known by some as "Tokyo’s Christ."
Asahara began to attract thousands of followers, many of whom were highly educated or trained in the fields of science and medicine. By the late 1980s, Aum had received certification as a religious organization by Japanese authorities.
In 1990, Asahara and several other members of the movement ran for election in Japan’s House of Representatives as part of the Shinri Tou, or "Supreme Truth," Party. After his defeat, he vowed revenge against the government.
Aum operated several businesses. One was a computer business that was legitimate and profitable. Another business manufactured illegal drugs and chemical and biological weapons, which the group used in its attacks. These chemical weapons included hydrogen cyanide, phosgene, sarin, and VX and biological weapons such as anthrax and botulinum toxin. The majority of the attacks were carried out in Tokyo, Japan, where the group was founded. However, other such incidents or failed attempts occurred in Hong Kong, Zaire, and Russia. Most of the attacks were made on subways or on dissident Aum members.
The most well-known act of violence was on March 20, 1995, when five members of the group released the chemical nerve agent sarin on five subway trains in Tokyo, Japan. Sarin was developed in 1938 as a pesticide and refined by Nazi Germany as a lethal weapon in 1939. In the 1995 attack, about a dozen people died and at least 1,000 people were injured. Nearly all the members of Aum who carried out the attack were killed or captured and imprisoned for life. The Japanese government disbanded the group, but two smaller groups were formed by the remaining members of Aum. The larger of the two, Aleph, was founded in 2000, and the smaller, Hikari no Wa, led by the man who succeeded Asahara as leader of Aum after Asahara's arrest, was founded in 2007. Both have publicly disclaimed the actions of Aum and Asahara, and Aleph’s leaders offered compensation to many of the families of victims of the 1995 chemical weapon attack. Nevertheless, the Japanese government kept Hikari no Wa under surveillance until 2017, and Aleph remained under surveillance as of early 2019. In addition, Aleph is recognized as a terrorist group by the United States, Canada, the European Union, and Russia, among others.
Asahara was convicted of murder after the Tokyo attack. He was sentenced to death in February 2004 and was executed in 2018, along with several other members of the group who were involved in the 1995 attack. An incident in January 2019 in which a man drove a minivan into a crowd of pedestrians in Tokyo (causing a number of injuries but no deaths) and cited "retaliation for the death penalty" as his motive was thought to be in response to these executions. In 2024, the Tokyo District Court ordered the government to hand over Asahara's ashes to his second daughter due to her close relationship with her father.
Beliefs and Practices
Asahara Shoko wanted to create a new Buddhism that was opposed to traditional Japanese Buddhist themes. He claimed to advocate an early form of Buddhism and Aum used Buddhist terms and vocabulary as interpreted by Asahara. In addition to Buddhism, Aum beliefs and ideology include a blend of Hindu, Christian, and other religious beliefs.
Many followers of Asahara were enticed by the movement’s belief that followers would achieve enlightenment by withdrawing from society’s pleasures and focusing their thinking on the "Supreme Truths." Asahara believed Japan was dominated by materialism and that its government and its citizens were evil. He believed there would be a nuclear Armageddon, the final battle between the forces of good and evil as described in the Book of Revelation, also known as Judgment Day. Some followers thought of themselves as soldiers in this battle.
Asahara wanted his followers to be prepared for the day when Aum would take over the government in Japan after a series of battles and culminate in a final battle. When the modern world and humanity ceased to exist, a cosmic cycle would commence. Because he envisioned Aum as being the government in power with him as the leader, the movement was structured similar to a government.
Asahara justified his group’s violence against citizens through the notion of compassionate killing, which stemmed from the Buddhist belief that in taking someone’s life, one is saving that person from his or her karma—a person’s actions in all states of existence that will determine the person’s fate in the next life. Asahara’s beliefs centered on the preoccupation with the apocalypse, or end of the world, which drove his violent actions against that world.
Many of Asahara Shoko’s followers were young, and his demand that his young disciples cut all ties with their families did not go unchallenged. Members who tried to leave Aum were considered disobedient and punished with torture, kidnapping, or death. In some cases, family members of followers who were opposed to their adherence to the movement or their lawyers were attacked and, in some cases, killed.
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