AUM SHINRIKYO

(JapaneseAUM Supreme Truth) an obscure Japanese Buddhist religion founded in 1987 by Chizuo Matsumoto, known to his followers as Master Shoko Asahara. AUM came to public attention in 1995 when 12 people died and thousands were injured following the release of nerve gas into a Tokyo subway by several of the group's top leaders. This action brought infamy and disarray to the group. AUM emerged out of Asahara's dissatisfaction with traditional Japanese Buddhism. Having found Tibetan and Theravada Buddhist teachings more impressive than the dominant forms of Japanese Buddhism, Asahara attempted to create a Buddhism that emphasized non-Japanese themes. He created a spiritual path whose goal was the attainment of enlightenment in this life. It incorporated a variety of techniques, from yoga and meditation to psychic development exercises, to assist the followers' growth toward enlightenment. Progress was marked by three levels of initiation, and after attaining the third level members could be admitted into the group's monastic community. Followers, who included many well-educated people, were taught to give total devotion to their guru. Asahara also became interested in prophecy, studied the Christian Book of Revelation, and in the early 1990s predicted an array of disasters for Japan, including World War III. Because Asahara expected AUM to replace the Japanese government in the chaos following the war, its organization mirrored that of the government. At the time of the gassing incident, March 20, 1995, AUM claimed some 50,000 members, the majority of whom lived in Russia. Following the arrest of Asahara and several hundred members of the leadership and rank and file and the conviction of scores of those arrested for both the subway gassing and numerous other violent acts, the group was decimated and the Japanese government seized its property. Problems remained for AUM as the trials of the remaining members implicated in the gassing incident, including the lengthy judicial process against Asahara, continued. Despite continuing revelations concerning the actions of AUM's leadership, a contingent of the group of several thousand members remains in Japan. Foreign affiliates of the group, however, dissolved in the wake of the gassing. In December 1999, AUM's new leaders apologized for the crimes committed by members of the group and pledged to compensate victims of the 1995 gassing. The next month they admitted Asahara's role in a series of crimes, including the gassing, distanced themselves from his spiritual leadership, set up a program to pay compensation to the victims' families, and changed the organization's name to Aleph. John Gordon Melton Additional reading A useful introduction to the sect can be found in Ian Reader, A Poisonous Cocktail?: Aum Shinrikyo's Path to Violence (1996).