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AUM Shinrikyo

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: AUM Shinrikyo
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Japanese new religious movement founded by Asahara Shoko (b. 1955 as Matsumoto Chizuo) in 1987. It contained elements of Hinduism and Buddhism and was founded on the millenarian expectation of a series of disasters that would bring an end to this world and inaugurate a new cosmic cycle. In 1995 its members released nerve gas into the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 people and injuring some 5,500. The group has been linked with other nerve-gas incidents and violent crimes. It claimed some 50,000 members, mostly in Russia, at the time of the gas attack. Membership collapsed in the wake of the attack, but it had grown to more than 1,500 members by the early 21st century. The group changed its name to Aleph in 2000. More than 10 AUM members were sentenced to death for their involvement in the gassing incident, including Asahara, who in 2004 was found guilty of masterminding the attack.

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Buddhism Dictionary: Aum Shinrikyō
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(Japanese). A new religious movement that developed in Japan during the 1980s under the leadership of its ‘guru’, Shoko Asahara. A kind of Śaiva-Shinto synthesis, the group also includes Buddhist and Judeo-Christian elements in its beliefs and practices. The cult drew worldwide attention when it released nerve gas in five Tokyo subway lines on 20 March 1995 in accordance with its millennial ‘doomsday’ beliefs. After several years of decline caused by the subsequent investigations and arrests, the group is reportedly on the rise once again.

 
 

 

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Buddhism Dictionary. A Dictionary of Buddhism. Copyright © 2003, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more