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The Tokyo subway attack in March 1995 was just one of a series of criminal activities including murder, kidnapping, extortion, and the illegal manufacture of arms and drugs carried out by the Japanese new religious movement Aum Shinrikyo, under the guidance of its leader Asahara Shoko. Reader looks at Aum's claims about itself and asks, why did a religious movement ostensibly focussed on yoga, meditation, asceticism and the pursuit of enlightenment become involved in violent activities?
Reader discusses Aum's spiritual roots, placing it in the context of contemporary Japanese religious patterns. Asahara's teaching are examined from his earliest public pronouncements through to his sermons at the time of the attack, and statements he has made in court. In analysing how Aum not only manufactured nerve gases but constructed its own internal doctrinal justifications for using them Reader focuses on the formation of what made all this possible: Aum's internal thought-world, and on how this was developed.
Reader argues that despite the horrors of this particular case, Aum should not be seen as unique, nor as solely a political or criminal terror group. Rather it can best be analysed within the context of religious violence, as an extreme example of a religious movement that has created friction with the wider world that escalated into violence.
List of contents
Introduction ??; 1: A Death in the Culture of Coercive Asceticism – Killing for Salvation, Religious Violence and Aum Shinriky? ?; 2: Compassionate Cruelty and the Cosmic Struggle – The Life and Nature of Asahara Sh?k? ??; 3: Creation, Preservation and Destruction – The Development and Nature of the Religion of Supreme Truth ?; 4: The World of the True Victors – The Motivations, Experiences and Practices of Asahara's Followers ?; 5: Losing the Struggle – From World Salvation to World Destruction, 1988–1990 ??; 6: Perpetual Conflict, Foreign Excursions and Cosmic Wars – Conspiracies, Retribution and the Right to Kill ??; 7: The Violence of the Lambs – Murder; Chaos, Vengeance, Power and Immortality ?; 8: Concluding Comments – Aum Shinriky? and Religious Violence ?
About the author
Ian Reader
Summary
The text looks at how Aum, a religious movement based on yoga, meditation, asceticism and enlightenment became involved in violent activities and explores the religion's spiritual roots, placing it in the context of modern Japanese religious patterns.
