Aum Shinri Kyo
Aum Shinri Kyo was a destructive doomsday cult centered in Japan. Their name is a combination of Aum which is a sacred Hindu syllable, and Shinri Kyo(Supreme Truth). This is a syncretistic cult combining mostly elements of Christianity and Buddhism. It is rejected as a legitimate Buddhist faith group by Buddhist leaders in Japan. Its leader, Shoko Asahara was born in 1955 as Chizuo Matsumoto. Asahara was partially blind at birth, and attended school for the blinc. In the early 1980's, he opened a folk medicine shop. Later he established a yoga scool. He traveled to the Himalayas to study Buddhism and Hinduism. He founded the Aum Shinri Kyo cult in 1987. Ashara was regarded as Christ by his followers. Using the book of Revelation and the writings of Nostradamus, he has predicted major disasters to occur in the final years of this milleniumn. The group reached a peak membership of 20,000 around the world. Potential recruits for the group were promised that they would develop supernatural powers if they joined in. The group strongly pointed out the corruption and materialism which they saw throughout modern Japan. Many arbitrary strict rules of behavior were enforced on the membership. They were explained as an ancient tradition. The group stressed a teachimg that outside groups such as social institutions like the government were intent on destroying their organization. Asahara claimed that he had traveled forward to the year 2006 and talked to people who had survived World War III. Asahara called for the group to fight in a final world revolution against the enemies of Japan. The group established a number of chemical factories and stockpiled various chemicals, as preparation for this. The cult mounted at least nine biological attacks on different installations in Japan. Targets included the legislature, the Imperial Palace, the US base at Yokosuka. Cult members sprayed microbes and germ toxins from rooftops and convoys of trucks. The attacks failed, resulting in no deaths. Several members of the cult are now serving prison sentences. Asahara is on trial for the spreading of Nerve gas in a Tokyo subway station that killed 11 passengers and injured 5000Over 100 other Aum members were also charged with the attacks. The group still exists even though many followers are now imprisoned. There has not been enoguh sufficient grounds to arrest any of the remianing free members. The group carries acurrent membership of about 1000-5000. One member of the group is now on death road in prison for the murdering of a counter-cult movement leader who investigated the group. The group is now led by Asahara's third daughter, Rika Matsumoto. The group believes that she has great spiritual abilities because she was born after her father was enlightened in 1982.
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