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Definition:
Aum Shinrikyo, which means "Supreme Truth," is a Buddhist group founded by Shoko
Asahara, a blind religious leader who sold quack medicine before starting a one-room
yoga school in Tokyo which would eventually become Aum Shinrikyo.
Asahara once belonged to the Agonshu, one of Japan's many small new religious groups which have proliferated during the past decades. He became disenchanted with it, however, and in 1984 left with a few other members to begin his own organization.
At the heart of Asahara's teachings, which were treated as "supreme truth" by his followers, was the looming spectre of Armageddon, a Christian concept not normally found among Buddhist sects. Asahara mingled prophecies from the Book of Revelations with popular beliefs about the possibilities of World War III and promoted the idea that a coming cataclysm would destroy society.
Fortunately, he was able to warn people - or at least those select people who were willing to listen to him. Asahara intended to prepare them for the catastrophe and have the ability to come out of it ready to lead a new society towards a glorious future. Unfortunately, Asahara was not quite willing to wait for Armageddon to happen on its own, so he began work on preparing biological and chemical weapons, finally releasing sarin gas in th Tokyo subway in March 1995, killing 12 and injuring thousands. When testing their ability to deliver sarin, the group sprayed the town of Matsumoto in June 1994, killing seven people and injuring 144.
Today, the group survives with a couple of thousand followers, several hundred of whom can be described as "die-hard" devotees living in communal facilities owned by the organization. This is a far cry from the height of its popularity, when it could claim 10,000 Japanese members and another 30,000 in Russia.
On June 26, 2002, 38-year-old Tomomitsu Niimi, a former "home affairs minister" of Aum Shinrikyo, became the eighth member of the group sentenced to death for the organization's crimes. Asahara has been on trial since April 1996 for 13 crimes and he has pleaded not guilty to all except to one charge of attempted murder in the trial. Legal experts say that the proceedings could last until 2008 before a verdict is reached.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: Ashoka
Common Misspellings: none
Related Resources:
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What is the difference between monotheism and monolatry? Between pantheism and panentheism? How about between animism and shamanism? Or theism and deism? What the heck is henotheism? For that matter, what is and is not a religion?What is Religion?
A system of human beliefs, ideals and practices which is harder to define than it may at first appear.
