The Aum Shinrikyo Thread

i heard about it but never know about it... it was said it's cult thing. i wonder... what does it do? just curious.

Aum was the former name of a cult group led by Asahara Shoko that gassed the tokyo subway with sarin gas. They are under watch by the police and local citizens now because of their terrorist activities, and the cult now has changed its name to Aleph. Most of the funding they had gathered were from computer sales and other techie type of services. Their current leader appears benevolent in front of the media, but the police and local citizens don't trust them.
When I was still in Japan, I used to see their members on the streets in flashy white outfits calling out to people and asking them "Are you happy?" I believe that after the sarin attack, most people can say they are very Unhappy to know that some faction of the aleph group lives near them....they are very secretive and have their meetings in private buildings and are not transparent, so this is the reason for the paranoia surrounding their organization....
they apparently had sister groups in Russia and in other countries, but I do not know what happened to those groups....
about all I know....

News from today:

Japan Doomsday Guru May Get Death Penalty

=> https://www.theintelligencer.com/news/article/Japan-Doomsday-Guru-May-Get-Death-Penalty-10565725.php

Death call for Japan cult leader

The trial of Shoko Asahara, leader of Aum Shrini Kyo (Supreme Truth Sect) has been the biggest in Japan's post-World War II history and has lasted seven years already. Asahara, 48, is accused of the subway attack, which killed 12 and injured more than 5,000 on five subway trains, as well as 12 other charges, including a separate nerve gas attack in Matsumoto in 1994 that left seven dead. Closing their case, prosecutors called on the Tokyo District Court to hand down the harshest possible punishment for Asahara. "The seriousness of the crime is unprecedented in this country. It was indiscriminate terrorism, and it is the most atrocious and nasty offence in the history of crimes," the several-hundred-page closing document said. "There is no room to consider leniency." Asahara, who once claimed more than 10,000 followers and whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. The bearded cult leader has alternated between aggressive outbursts and sullen silence, but on Thursday, he sat emotionless. Japan's judicial system has been criticised for being too slow, with judges often taking years to reach verdicts. Prosecutors in the Asahara case dropped four counts to speed things up, but a verdict is not expected until March next year. Asahara's defence team is set to make its final arguments in October. An appeal could add more years to proceedings. Even Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi joined in the criticism over the judicial process on Thursday. "Seven years is far too long. Isn't there any way to make this shorter?" he told reporters. Ashara established his cult in 987, combining aspects of Buddhism and Hinduism and convincing his followers he was the incarnation of Siva, a god of destruction and regeneration. At one point, there were as many as 15,000 Aum followers. As of last December, Japan's Public Security Investigation Agency said there were still more than 1,600 followers. Japan's parliament passed laws in 1999 to allow authorities to place cult members under strict surveillance amid fears the sect was making a comeback.

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=> http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/04/24/japan.cult/index.html

There was a program recently here in the US on the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) called "Armageddon" that looked at different groups and weapons of mass destruction. They had a segment on Aum Shinrikyou. They said Shoko Asahara wanted to start a major world war, and thought that Japan would think the sarin gas attack was done by some other country. The mechanism used to spread the sarin gas was not very effective but if it had been many, many more people would have died.

See the following links for further info:

modern architectural art for the wtc | book and other reviews news at abelard.org

Apologetics Index: Christian Apologetics and Cult Information

Gerald

Aum Shinrikyo has been labeled a terrorist group by the US state department... thats a big feat for any terrorist organization. (its like a badge of honor) They seek enlightenment of the japanese people, so that they can take over Japan, then the world. they have 1500~2000 members. They carried out two attacks, one in Tokyo and one in Nagano. The Tokyo gas attack luckily did not go as planned, and casualties were limited to 12 deaths and thousands injured. Had the group properly prepare the chemicals, the thousands injured may have been thousands killed.

Executing their leader in my mind is a bad idea... revelationist terrorist groups dont act kindly when you kill their messiah...

I heard someplace that Asahara had somehow corrupted the Foundation Trilogy of Asimov's to use as his bible to create a better world for his followers...anybody know anything about that? or is it merely rumor?

Since the leaders of Aleph seems to want to distance themselves from Asahara, I don't know if it would make much difference if he did get executed.....

of course, if the J-police are wise, they'd probably would be on alert for terrorist activities by the Aleph/Aum, but of late, my view on their competence (the police) is not very high, either..... :O

So have Japan government caught the head of that stupid Aum Shinrikyo?

he is about to be sentenced to death by a court

I was on a Tokyo subway the exact hour that happened. Luckily it wasn't on my line.

Aum was a personality cult so it's not something that could really live without Asahara around to wield his influence. I don't think executing him is going to radicalize any of his former followers.

I just hope there's nobody as charismatic and evil in Aleph to take his place.

Damn, I wonder what Asia has become.

Many Muslims turn into extremists, some Chinese set up those stupid FALUN GONG, Japan has Aum Shinrikyo......

By the way, shinri means "true knowledge", then what does Aum means.

AUM = Animated Universal M-o-r-o-n-s

hehe

Originally posted by den4
AUM = Animated Universal M-o-r-o-n-s

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Yes, AUM must stand for that.

Finally, the Aum Shinrikyo head get sthe death sentence! Justice has been served. Here's an article from the Japan Times:

Aum Shinrikyo founder Shoko Asahara was sentenced to death Friday for ordering a series of crimes carried out by his disciples, including the March 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack.

The widely expected sentence was handed down by the Tokyo District Court after a trial lasting seven years and 10 months. Asahara, 48, stood accused on 13 counts in connection with crimes that caused 27 deaths.

The counsel for the guru, whose real name is Chizuo Matsumoto, immediately filed an appeal.

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Japan Times

Good. The bastard deserves it.

The great thing about the death penalty in Japan is it's carried out pretty quickly compared to the U.S., and no one has a problem with it since the penalty is usually given to only brutal and/or mass murderers.

Golgo_13 said:

Good. The bastard deserves it.

The great thing about the death penalty in Japan is it's carried out pretty quickly compared to the U.S., and no one has a problem with it since the penalty is usually given to only brutal and/or mass murderers.

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Give that, will the appeal pass? Or will it be turned down. I would think, given the circustances, it's the latter.

Good for him!!well,i think he is a crazy guy for the killing of so many innocent ppl...ya...and it took 8 yrs for the outcome...

several years ago read a jpn weekly magazine article about asahara/matsumotos ancestry: his gran....pa was a secret police officer of north korea. seems among kyushu-ites relatively thick relatives reside there... a site says a both big jpn and south korean religious organizations had funded aum..... btw there are lots of sports/tv personalities who are korean descendants: like a popular baseball exmanager now seems rehabilitated whose pa was from peninsula wrote a same kind of magazine.... perhaps to promote improved relationship between the two people???

The Washington D.C. area sniper was sentenced to death today.

He still maintains his innocence.

What was this weird thing I once heard about Aum claiming it was following Asimov's Foundation trilogy as a basis for their cult group? I still didn't understand that one, unless it was merely rumor...

This issue is very interesting. I'm an Italian unversity student who lives in Perugia. I'm looking for some japanese people to talk about it and death penalty in general to prepare my thesis. Please, contact me. My user name is davide-italy. Thank you! Bye!

I don't like retyping stuff, so I'll just give some links to things I have posted on this before.


semi-related:
http://www.google.com/groups?q=death+penalty+Japan+group:fj.life.in-japan+author:Michael+author:Cash&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=rc7uvuo4ebk1s1imltshpltd1grdc3961o%404ax.com&rnum=23

Aum is the japanese for Ohm. You know, like the greek letter.

I thought Ohm was a guy who invented a side dish. Ohm Slaw.

hua he said:

Damn, I wonder what Asia has become.

Many Muslims turn into extremists, some Chinese set up those stupid FALUN GONG, Japan has Aum Shinrikyo......

By the way, shinri means "true knowledge", then what does Aum means.

Click to expand...

just dont get all things mixed up.
Falun Gong is NOT a sect nor an extremist group, even less a stupid set up !!! By that definition (extremist group) it is meant (shortly) : dangerous for society no matter which one. This is not the case for falun gong since they are mentionned as terrorist only on one and unique list : china's !!! Falun gong is not listed or identifyied as such by any other country (in Europe, France is the most severe with sect's listing) and Falun gong is NOT on the list. Nor is it on the FBI / CIA or NSA list or in any other country of the world, for that matter.
It is only in China that falun gong is greatly disturbing the goverment by NON VIOLENT ACTIONS AND PROTESTATIONS about the government policies, such as Tibet killings, invasion and slaughter, displacement of population (3 rivers dam for example), poverty in under-favorised country-side area, AIDS spreading through carelessness of the government in blood transfusion policy and so on. Falun gong is based on a buddhist way of seeing life and I would remind you that buddhist religion is the less violent, the most peace-loving mass religion that exist in the world.
Now if you mention that kind of action as being terrorist action, then either you are a well paid member of the chinese govt. or some kind of a dictator who has absolutely no idea of what democracy is all about... You have never heard of any falun gong member killing, molesting or even threatening another human being, nor even a dog or a cat.

So, please do not associate them with "many Muslims"* and / or the Asum Shinriko. You are talking about something you obviously don't know and in this case I would prefer that you abstain yourself. You are not informed about the real things.

Please be more careful about what you say concerning over 150 milions people (that is approximatively the amount of "possible known" fallung gong "members" but it's probably double or more that amount since a large part dare not come into the open). Anybody can make mistake but in such cases as false accusations, one should be more careful.

Another thing : China is today widely opening its doors to the world and will host the 2008 olympic games and to this last object, many countries such as the European community has asked the chinese govt to get things right with the falun gong organisation. And that is not only a request, but almost an order.

I am not a member of falun gong, I am not chinese, but my profession, my many long experiences in the Asian continent and my every day studies and work authorizes me, with very strong feelings, to say what I have mentionned here and above.

Thank you for taking the time to read me.

P:S. 1
* "many Muslims", please be careful not to get mixed up here again. I would have prefered if you said "a few muslims" since muslims extremists will only represent the most tiniest fraction of the numerous practising Muslims.
P.S. 2
I'm NOt Muslim either !!!

Thanks for doing that Byp, theres nothing wrong with Falun gong except the chinese government dont like their own people questioning them. 0 tolerance.