The Tokyo subway attack in March 1995 was just one of a series of
criminal activities including murder, kidnapping, extortion, and
the illegal manufacture of arms and drugs carried out by the
Japanese new religious movement Aum Shinrikyo, under the guidance
of its leader Asahara Shoko. Reader looks at Aum's claims about
itself and asks, why did a religious movement ostensibly focussed
on yoga, meditation, asceticism and the pursuit of enlightenment
become involved in violent activities?
Reader discusses Aum's spiritual roots, placing it in the
context of contemporary Japanese religious patterns. Asahara's
teaching are examined from his earliest public pronouncements
through to his sermons at the time of the attack, and statements he
has made in court. In analysing how Aum not only manufactured nerve
gases but constructed its own internal doctrinal justifications for
using them Reader focuses on the formation of what made all this
possible: Aum's internal thought-world, and on how this was
developed.
Reader argues that despite the horrors of this particular case,
Aum should not be seen as unique, nor as solely a political or
criminal terror group. Rather it can best be analysed within the
context of religious violence, as an extreme example of a religious
movement that has created friction with the wider world that
escalated into violence.
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