Shoko Asahara

Shoko Asahara
Born Chizuo Matsumoto
(1955-03-02) March 2, 1955
Yatsushiro, Kumamoto, Japan
Occupation Founder, Aum Shinrikyo
Criminal charge Murder, terrorism
Criminal penalty Death
Criminal status Incarcerated, awaiting execution
Spouse(s) Tomoko
Children 12–15[1]

Shoko Asahara (麻原 彰晃 Asahara Shōkō), born Chizuo Matsumoto (松本 智津夫 Matsumoto Chizuo), is the founder of the Japanese Doomsday cult group Aum Shinrikyo. Asahara was convicted for being the mastermind behind the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway and several other crimes, for which he was sentenced to death in 2004. In June 2012, his execution was postponed due to further arrests of Aum Shinrikyo members.[2]

Early years

Asahara was born into a large, poor family of tatami mat makers in Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture.[3] Afflicted at birth with infantile glaucoma, he lost all sight in his left eye and went partially blind in his right at a young age, and was thus enrolled in a school for the blind.[3] Asahara graduated in 1977 and turned to the study of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, which were common careers for the blind in Japan.[4] He married the following year and eventually fathered 12 children, the oldest of whom was born in 1978.[5] However, Asahara's fourth daughter insists that he has 15 children.[1] In 2015, two of his daughters apologized to victims of the sarin gas attacks.[6][7][8]

In 1981, Asahara was convicted of practicing pharmacy without a license and selling unregulated drugs, for which he was fined ¥200,000 (US$1652.29).[9]

Asahara's interest in religion reportedly started at this time. Recently married, worked to support his large and growing family.[10] He dedicated his free time to the study of various religious concepts, starting with Chinese astrology and Taoism.[11] Later, Asahara practiced western esotericism, yoga, meditation, esoteric Buddhism, and esoteric Christianity.

Aum Shinrikyo

In 1987, Shoko Asahara officially changed his name from Chizuo Matsumoto and applied for government registration of the group Aum Shinrikyo. The authorities were initially reluctant, but eventually granted it legal recognition as a religious organization after an appeal in 1989. After this, a monastic order was established, and many lay followers joined. Shoko Asahara gained credibility by appearing on TV and on magazine covers. He gradually attained a following of believers and began being invited to lecture at universities. Asahara has also wrote many religious books, the best known being Beyond Life and Death, Mahayana Sutra, and Initiation. There also exists an anime that portrays Asahara and his cult in a protagonistic light.

The doctrine of Aum Shinrikyo is based on the Vajrayana scriptures, the Bible, and other texts. In 1992 Asahara published a foundational book, and declared himself "Christ",[12] Japan's only fully enlightened master, and identified with the "Lamb of God".[13] His purported mission was to take others' sins upon himself, and he claimed he could transfer spiritual power to his followers.[14] He also saw dark conspiracies everywhere, promulgated by the Jews, the Freemasons, the Dutch, the British Royal Family, and rival Japanese religions.[15] He outlined a doomsday prophecy, which included a third World War, and described a final conflict culminating in a nuclear "Armageddon", borrowing the term from the Book of Revelation 16:16.[16]

Asahara often preached the necessity of Armageddon for "human relief". He eventually declared, "Put tantra Vajrayana into practice in accordance with the doctrines of Mahamudra," and he led a series of terrorist attacks using a secret organization hidden from ordinary believers.[17] Asahara did not quite understand the meaning of Vajrayana and Mahamudra, since he targeted an unspecified, large number of people. Some people, including lawyers and journalists, saw through the religious fanaticism of Aum Shinrikyo. They continued speaking out about the danger of Aum Shinrikyo in spite of the danger to their own lives, but received little attention.[18]

There were believers among the Japanese police force that had been secretly updating Aum Shinrikyo with details concerning investigations. The media not only helped increase the number of Aum believers, but in one case mistakenly helped Aum Shinrikyo commit another act of terrorism (the Sakamoto family murder). In addition, several well-known religious scholars and philosophers praised Aum Shinrikyo as an authentic religion;[18] there were even the scholars who insisted that Tokyo subway sarin attack was not Aum's crime. As a result, many crimes perpetrated by the cult were not properly investigated.

Tokyo subway gas attack, and arrest

On March 20, 1995, members of Aum Shinrikyo attacked the Tokyo subway with the nerve gas sarin. Thirteen people died and thousands more suffered ill effects. After finding sufficient evidence, authorities accused Aum Shinrikyo of complicity in the attack, as well as in a number of smaller-scale incidents. Dozens of disciples were arrested, Aum's facilities were raided, and the court issued an order for Shoko Asahara's arrest.

On May 16, 1995, the police corps investigated the headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo. Asahara was discovered in a very small, isolated room in one of the facilities. Wary of possible Aum military power, the First Airborne Brigade of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force was stationed nearby to support the police if needed.[18][19]

Many small glass bottles containing short frizzy hair were discovered in Asahara's private room. The bottle were labeled with the names of his female followers.[20] Both marriage and sexual relations between pupils were forbidden by Asahara, but Aum believed that the founder was exempt from this rule and was permitted to have sexual relationship with many women for the integrity of initiation.[1]

Asahara did not have a private residence, and therefore he held his inappropriate relationships in official headquarters. When the woman was a virgin, she was considered to be a dakini. One such dakini took part in the sarin gas attack under Asahara's instruction.[20]

Accusations and trial

Shoko Asahara faced 27 counts of murder in 13 separate indictments. The prosecution argued that Asahara gave orders to attack the Tokyo Subway in order to "overthrow the government and install himself in the position of Emperor of Japan". Several years later, the prosecution forwarded an additional theory that the attacks were ordered to divert police attention away from Aum. The prosecution also accused Asahara of masterminding the Matsumoto incident and the Sakamoto family murder. According to Asahara's defense team, a group of senior followers initiated the atrocities and kept them a secret from Asahara.

During the trials, some of the disciples testified against Asahara, and he was found guilty on 13 of 17 charges, including the Sakamoto family murder; four charges were dropped. On February 27, 2004, he was sentenced to death by hanging.

The trial was called the "trial of the century" by the Japanese media. During the trials, Asahara resigned from his position as the Aum Shinrikyo representative in an attempt to prevent the group from being forcefully dissolved by the state.

The defense appealed Asahara's sentencing on the grounds that he was mentally unfit, and psychiatric examinations were undertaken. During the examinations, Asahara never spoke. However, he communicated with the staff at his detention facility, which convinced the examiner that Asahara was maintaining his silence out of free will. Because his lawyers never submitted the statement of reason for appeal, the Tokyo High Court decided on March 27, 2006 not to grant them leave to appeal. This decision was upheld by the Supreme Court of Japan on September 15, 2006. Two re-trial appeals were declined by the appellate court.

In June 2012, Asahara's execution was postponed due to arrests of several fugitive Aum Shinrikyo members.[2]

See also

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 3 Japanese Wikipedia section on "religious lovers of Asahara".
  2. 1 2 "Execution of Aum founder likely postponed". asiaone News. The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network. June 5, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Atkins, Stephen E. (2004). Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-313-32485-7.
  4. ↑ Dharmananda, Subhuti. "Japanese Acupuncture: Blind Acupuncturists, Insertion Tubes, Abdominal Diagnosis, and the Benten Goddess". Institute for Traditional Medicine. Retrieved 2009-07-23.
  5. ↑ Japanese Wikipedia section on "Asahara's children".
  6. ↑ "Asahara daughter speaks out on '95 sarin attack". The Japan Times. March 19, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Aum Founder's Daughter Speaks 20 Years After Tokyo Sarin Attack". The Wall Street Journal. March 19, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Tokyo subway attacks: Japan still baffled 20 years on". Borneo Bulletin. March 20, 2015.
  9. ↑ Drozdek, Boris; John P. Wilson (2007). Voices of Trauma: Treating Psychological Trauma Across Cultures. Springer Science. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-387-69794-9.
  10. ↑ Métraux, Daniel Alfred (1999). Aum Shinrikyo and Japanese youth. University Press of America. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-7618-1417-7.
  11. ↑ Lewis, James R.; Jesper Aagaard Petersen (2005). Controversial New Religions. Oxford University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-0-19-515683-6.
  12. ↑ Snow, Robert L. (2003). Deadly Cults: The Crimes of True Believers. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-275-98052-8.
  13. ↑ Partridge, Christopher Hugh (2006). The Re-Enchantment of the West: Alternative Spiritualities, Sacralization, Popular Culture, and Occulture. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 300. ISBN 978-0-567-04133-3.
  14. ↑ Griffith, Lee (2004). The War on Terrorism and the Terror of God. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-8028-2860-6.
  15. ↑ Goldwag, Arthur (2009). Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies: The Straight Scoop on Freemasons, the Illuminati, Skull and Bones, Black Helicopters, the New World Order, and Many, Many More. Random House. p. 15. ISBN 978-0-307-39067-7.
  16. ↑ Lifton, Robert Jay (1 August 2000). Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism. New York: Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-8050-6511-4.
  17. ↑ Senate Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (October 31, 1995). "III. Background of the Cult". Global Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Case Study on the Aum Shinrikyo.
  18. 1 2 3 Huffpost Society (May 12, 2015). "What is the "universality"? we should have learned from Aum Shinrikyo case after 20 years". The Huffington Post (in Japanese).
  19. ↑ Koshimizu, Richard. "TOTAL INDEX PAGE of Aum Shinrikyo case" (in Japanese).
  20. 1 2 Japanese Wikipedia section on "sexual taste of Asahara".


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