Aum Shinrikyo

File:Asahara.jpg

Shoko Asahara

Aum Shinrikyo, now known as Aleph, is a Japanese New Religious Movement|religious group founded by Japanese national Matsumoto Chizuo, later known to his followers as Master Shoko Asahara. The group gained international notoriety in 1995, when it carried out a Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in the Tokyo Rapid transit|subways. It is estimated that at its height,in 1995,the group had an estimated membership in Japan of 9,000, and as many as 40,000 worldwide. As the result of the gas attack in 1985, and additional attempts to release deadly gas into the Tokyo subway system, the group was eventually labeled as a terrorist organization. Many of its members were subsequently arrested and convicted for various criminal acts, including Asahara, who was eventually sentenced to death. The group has now dwindled in size, and as of 2004, it is divided into two separate groups, each one opposing the other.

Beginnings of the Movement

The beginnings of this movement appear to have taken place in approximately 1984. Asahara, who legal name was Matsumoto Chizuo, was born with glaucoma. He was almost completely blind at birth, having only slight vision in one eye. In his early years he attended a school for the blind, and lived in a boarding school for almost 14 years. After graduating in 1977 he moved to Tokyo. Despite his intense efforts, Asahara failed to pass the entrance exam at Tokyo University. Eventually Asahara studied acupunture and also developed an intense interest in religion. His interest in religion ultimately resulted in the starting of his own religioius movement. He started off as a Yoga and meditation class known as Aum-no-kai ("Aum club") which steadily grew in the following years. It gained the official status as a religious organization in 1989. It attracted such a considerable number of young graduates from Japan's elite universities that it was dubbed a "religion for the elite Some have called it a cult or sect. The movement's core beliefs are a combination of Buddhist teachings, such as Yoga and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as Hindu beliefs and practices, such as adopting Shiva its primary diety, the god of destruction. Asahara asserted that he had been given the divine mission of establishing the utopian Buddhist kingdom of Shambhala, and he proposed in 1988 to build communal “Lotus Villages” across Japan. The goal of the religious group was for individuals to rid themselves of bad karma (Brackett 1996, pp. 69-75). Asahara Shōkō borrowed many practices from yoga, and he defined a sophisticated sequence of training and spiritual testing. From the group's earliest existence, it invoked millennialist themes, that if enough followers gathered together, their positive spiritual energy could overcome the negative forces and save the Armageddon that was to come at the end of the twentieth century. No later than April 1990 Asahara came to believe that harnessing the spiritual energy of a large number of followers was not enough to save the world. He spoke to his disciples instead about a mass, indiscriminate death as the only basis for the salvation of humanity. Through death, the guru claimed, the soul could reincarnate at a superior spiritual level.

The group attracted attention in the late 1980s with accusations of deception of new members,the holding members against their will and the forcing of members to donate money. A murder of a member who tried to leave the group is known to have taken place in February 1989. In October 1989, the group's negotiations with Tsutsumi Sakamoto, a lawyer threatening a lawsuit against the group failed. In December, 1989, Sakamoto, his wife and his child were reported missing from their home in Yokohama. It was not until 1995 that Sakamoto and his family were found to have been murdered. The police eventually linked the deaths to members of the Aum group.

At the end of 1993 the group started secretly manufacturing the nerve agent sarin and later VX (nerve agent)|VX gas. The group came to the attention of the public in 1995 when 12 people died and thousands were injured following the release of nerve gas into a Tokyo subway by members of the group. This action aroused extereme public disapproval of the group when it was eventually determined that Alph members carried out the attack.

Several hundred members were eventually arrested. Asahara was arrested for 23 counts of murder. In 2004, after an eight-year trial, he was convicted of masterminding the attack and was sentenced to death with several of his followers. None of them have yet to be executed. As a result of the mass convictions of many of its members, the group was virtually decimated. Much of its property was seized by the Japanese government, and eventually the group was labeled as a terrorist group by the the Japanese government, the EU, the United States, and Canada.

The structure of the group is somewhat complex, as is its teachings.

Doctrine

The core of Aum doctrine are Buddhist scriptures included in the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. Other religious texts are also used, including a number of Tibetan Buddhist sutras, Hindu yogi sutras, and Taoist scriptures. However, there is controversy as to whether Aum is a Buddhist group or other definitions are more appropriate, such as labeling it a 'doomsday cult'. The name "Aum Shinrikyo" (Japanese language|Japanese]: オウム真理教 Ōmu Shinrikyō), sometimes written "Aum Shinrikiyo," derives from the Hindu syllable [Aum] (which represents the universe), followed by Shinrikyo written in kanji, roughly meaning "religion of Truth." In 2000 the organization changed its name to "Aleph (letter)|Aleph" (the first letter of the Hebrew Alphabet|Hebrew and Arabic alphabet), changing its logo as well

Basics

Some scholars of the new religious movements view Aum's doctrine as a combination of various traditions, citing various reasons to justify their viewpoints. Perhaps the most widespread argument is a notion that the primary deity revered by Aum followers is Shiva, the Hindu deity symbolizing the power of destruction. The Aleph's Lord Shiva (also known as Samantabhadra, Kuntu-Zangpo, or Adi-Buddha) derives from Tibetan Vajrayana tradition and has no connection to the Hindu Shiva.

There is also controversy as to what role Christianity plays in Aleph's doctrine, since it was mentioned in some of Asahara|Shoko Asahara's speeches and books. Asahara himself referred to Aum's doctrine as 'truth', arguing that 'while various Buddhist and yogi schools lead to the same goal by different routes, the goal remains the same, and insisting that the world's major religions are closely related to each other. Asahara believed that the 'true religion' should not only offer a path but it should also lead to a final destination by its own specific 'route' which may differ considerably due to differences in those who follow it (what the religion terms 'Final Realization'). This way, a religion for modern Japanese or Americans will be different from a religion for ancient Indians. The more custom-tailored to the audience the religion is, the more effective it becomes, according to Asahara. His other conviction was that once a disciple chose whom to learn from, he should maintain focus with that person so as to avoid any confusion that could arise from contradictions between different 'routes' to the ultimate goal, the Enlightenment. Asahara quoted Indian and Tibetan religious figures in support of these viewpoints.

Influence of Buddhism and Emphasis on Isolation

According to Aum, the route to Final Realization (in Shakyamuni Buddha's words, 'the state where everything is achieved and there is nothing else worth achieving') entails a multitude of small enlightenments each elevating the consciousness of a practitioner to a higher level, thus making him or her a more intelligent and 'better' developed, by getting closer to his or her 'true self' (or 'atman'). Asahara believed that the Buddhist path was the most effective, so he selected original Shakyamuni Buddha sermons as a foundation for the Aum doctrine; however, he also added various elements from other traditions, such as Chinese gymnastics (said to improve overall bodily health) or yogi asanas (to prepare for keeping a meditation posture). He also translated much of traditional Buddhist terminology into modern Japanese, and later changed the wording to make the terms less confusing and easier to memorize and understand. He defended his innovations by referring to Shakyamuni who chose Pali instead of Sanskrit in order to make sermons accessible for the ordinary population, who could not understand the language of the ancient Indian educated elite.

In Asahara's view, Aum's doctrine encompassed all three major Buddhist schools: Theravada (aimed at personal enlightenment), Mahayana (the "great vehicle," aimed at helping others), and tantra|tantric] Vajrayana (the "diamond vehicle," which involves secret initiations, secret mantras, and advanced esotericism|esoteric meditations. In his own book Initiation (Aum Shinrikyo book)|Initiation he compares the stages of enlightenment according to the famous Yoga Sutra by Patanjali with the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path, arguing that these two traditions discuss exactly the same experiences although in different words. Asahara has also authored a number of other books. The best known are Beyond Life and Death and Mahayana-Sutra. The books explain the process of attaining various stages of enlightenment provided in ancient scriptures and compares it with the experiences of Asahara and his followers. He also published commentaries to ancient scriptures. Asahara's sermons were dedicated to specific themes (from ways to keep the proper meditation posture to methods of raising a healthy child) and are studied by Aum followers. Some of the sermons seem simple in terms of their wording and deal with everyday matters such as unhappiness arising from problems in human relationships. Other sermons use sophisticated language and discuss matters more interesting for an educated elite. Full-time renunciates mostly study the sermons dealing with aspects considered 'advanced' while lay followers concentrate on 'wordly stuff'. Some of the sermons, considered 'pre-entry level' are not being studied (a good example of these are television interviews or recorded brief broadcasts of Aum's radio station, 'Evangelion Tes Basileias'). To maintain and improve thinking abilities, Asahara suggested that his followers refrain from consuming 'low-quality' and 'degrading' information from sources such as entertainment magazines and comic shows and advised them to read scientific literature instead. This approach which was labeled 'information intake control' and became a source of media criticism.

Aum also inherited the Indian esoteric yoga tradition of Shaktipat, also mentioned in Mahayana Buddhist texts. The Shaktipat, which is believed to allow a direct transmission of spiritual energy from a teacher to a disciple, was practiced by Asahara himself and several of his top disciples, including Fumihiro Joyu and Hisako Ishii. Fumihiro Joyu also performed a shaktipat-like ceremony at the beginning of the XXI century.

Asahara stressed isolation from the outside world because the outside world was impure and only contaminated members. He convinced his followers isolation from the outside world was for their own welfare, and used drugs to keep them docile

Following the formal closure of Aum Shinrikyo, a number of steps were undertaken that changed some of the aspects that concerned both the society and authorities. Some of the most controversial parts of the doctrine (see below for details) were removed, while the basic, general aspects remained intact. For this reason, the information on religious doctrine provided in this article remains largely relevant to the new organization Aleph as well.

Organizational structure

Aum applied specific methodologies and arranged the doctrine studies in accordance with a special kogaku (Japanese: learning) system. In kogaku, each new stage is reached only after examinations are successfully passed, imitating the familiar Japanese entrance exam paradigm. Meditation practice is combined with and based upon theoretic studies. Theoretical studies, Asahara maintained, serve no purpose if 'practical experience' is not achieved. He therefore advised not to explain anything if it was not actually experienced and suggested reading Aum's books instead.

Followers were divided into two groups: lay practitioners and "samana" (a Pali word for monks but also used to include "nun]s", which comprise a "sangha" (monastic order). The former live with their families; the latter lead ascetic lifestyles, usually in groups.

According to Aum's classification, a follower can attain the following stages by religious practice: Raja Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Mahamudra (sometimes called Jnana Yoga), Mahayana Yoga, Astral Yoga, Causal Yoga and the ultimate stage, the Ultimate Realization. The overwhelming majority of such alleged attainers were monks, though there were some lay Raja Yoga and Kundalini Yoga attainers. For a follower to be considered an attainer, specific conditions had to be met before senior sangha members would recognize them as such. For instance, the "Kundalini Yoga" stage requires demonstration of reduction in oxygen consumption, changes in electromagnetic brain activity, and reduction of heart rate (measured by corresponding equipment). A follower who demonstrates such changes is considered to have entered the "samadhi" state and thus deserved the title and permission to teach others. Each stage has its own requirements. Advancements in theoretical studies did not give followers the right to teach others anything except the basic doctrine. According to Asahara, real meditation experience could be the only criterion for deciding the actual ability to teach others.

Activities

Asahara traveled abroad on multiple occasions and met with various notable yogi and Buddhist religious teachers and figures, such as the Tenzin Gyatso|14th Dalai Lama, Kalu Rinpoche (a patriarch of the Tibetan Kagyupa school) and Khamtrul Jamyang Dondrup Rinpoche (former General Secretary of the Council for Cultural and Religious Affairs in Tibetan Government in Exile). Aum's activities aimed at the popularization of Buddhist texts were also noted by the governments of Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Central Tibetan Administration|Tibetan government-in-exile]] located in Dharamsala, India. While Aum was considered a rather controversial phenomenon in Japan, it was not yet associated with any crimes. It was during this period that Asahara received rare Buddhist scriptures and was awarded a stupa with remains of the Shakyamuni Buddha.

Aum's PR activities included publishing. In Japan, where comics and animated cartoons enjoy unprecedented popularity among all ages, Aum attempted to tie religious ideas to popular anime and manga themes - space missions, extremely powerful weapons, world conspiracies and conquest for ultimate truth.

Followers were discouraged from consuming Aum's publications like Enjoy the Happiness and Vajrayana Sacca, which were aimed primarily at the outside world; researchers later misinterpreted the ideas as being part of Aum's internal belief system. One of their most extraordinary publications about ninja traced the origins of martial arts and espionage to ancient China and linked the supernatural abilities ninja were rumored to possess with religious spiritual practices, concluding that the "true ninja" was interested in "preserving peace" in times of military conflict.

Science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov were referenced "depicting as it does an elite group of spiritually evolved scientists forced to go underground during an age of barbarism so as to prepare themselves for the moment ... when they will emerge to rebuild civilization." Also, followers used Buddhist ideas to impress the well educated Japanese elite, who were not usually attracted to purely traditional sermons. Aum therefore had a tremendous influence in Japan, as some Buddhest shrines eventually adopted some aspects of Aum 'weekend meditation seminars' format. The necessity to 'modernize' the traditional Buddhist approach towards his followers also became common.

Aum Shinrikyo had started as a quiet group of people interested in yogi meditation, but later transformed into a very different organization. According to Asahara, he needed "to demonstrate charisma" to attract the modern audience. Following his decision, Aum underwent a radical image change.

The rebranded Aum looked less like an elite meditation boutique and more like an organization attractive to a broader, larger population group. Public interviews, bold controversial statements, and vicious opposition to critique were incorporated into the religion's PR style.

In private, both Asahara and his top disciples continued their humble lifestyles, the only exception being the armored Mercedes gifted by a wealthy follower concerned over his Guru's traffic safety. In rather rare footage, Asahara is seen on the street in front of a large clown doll resembling himself, smiling happily. He never ceased repeating that personal wealth or fame were of little importance to him, but he had to be known in order to attract more people.

Intense advertising and recruitment activities, dubbed the 'Aum Salvation plan' included claims of curing physical illnesses with yoga health improvement techniques, realizing life goals by improving intelligence and positive thinking, and concentrating on what was important at the expense of leisure and spiritual advancement. This was to be accomplished by practicing the ancient teachings, accurately translated from original Pali sutras (these three were referred to as 'threefold Salvation'). Extraordinary efforts resulted in Aum becoming the fastest-growing religious group in Japan's history.

With ambitious young graduates from Japan's top universities, Aum's changed the name of his 'department' system. For instance, 'medical department' became 'ministry of health', 'scientific group' became 'ministry of science' and people with martial-arts or military backgrounds were organized into a 'ministry of intelligence.' Female renunciates involved in the care of children were assigned to the 'ministry of education'.

Leading Up To the Gas Attack In 1995

The group started attracting controversy in the late 1980s with accusations of deception of new members, and of holding members against their will and forcing members to donate money. A murder of a group member who tried to leave is known to have taken place in February 1989.

In October 1989, the group's negotiations with Tsutsumi Sakamoto, an anti-cult lawyer threatening a lawsuit against them which could potentially bankrupt the group, failed. In the same month, Sakamoto recorded an interview for a talk show on the Japanese TV station Tokyo Broadcasting System|TBS, which was not broadcast following protests from the group. The following month Sakamoto, his wife and his child went missing from their home in Yokohama. The police were unable to resolve the case at the time, although some of his colleagues publicly voiced their suspicions of the group. It was not until 1995 that they were known to have been murdered and their bodies dumped by cult members.

In 1990 Asahara and 24 other members stood unsuccessfully for the General Elections for the House of Representatives of Japan|House of Representatives under the banner of Shinri-tō (Supreme Truth Party). Asahara made a couple of appearances on TV talk shows in 1991, however at this time the attitude of the groups doctrine against society started to grow in hostility. In 1992 Aum's "Construction Minister" Kiyohide Hayakawa published a treatise called Principles of a Citizen's Utopia which has been described as a "declaration of war" against Japan's constitution and civil institutions. At the same time, Hayakawa started to make frequent visits to Russia to acquire military hardware, including AK47's, a MIL Mi-17 military helicopter, and reportedly an attempt to acquire components for a nuclear bomb.

The group is known to have considered assassinations of several individuals critical of the group, such as the heads of Buddhist sects Soka Gakkai and Kofuku no Kagaku|The Institute for Research in Human Happiness and the controversial cartoonist Yoshinori Kobayashi in 1993.

At the end of 1993 the group started to secretly manufacturing the nerve agent sarin and later VX (nerve agent)|VX gas. They also attempted to manufacture 1000 automatic rifles but only managed to make one[1]. Aum tested the sarin on sheep at a remote ranch in Western Australia, killing 29 sheep. Both sarin and VX were then used in several assassinations (and attempts) over 1994-1995. Most notably on the night of 27th June 1994, the group is now known to have carried out the world's first use of chemical weapons in a terrorist attack against civilians when it released sarin in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto. This Matsumoto incident killed seven people and harmed 200 more. However, police investigations focused only on an innocent local resident and failed to implicate the cult at that time.

In February 1995 several group members kidnapped Kiyoshi Kariya, a 69-year old brother of a member who had escaped, from a Tokyo street and took him to one of their compounds at Kamikuishiki, Yamanashi|Kamikuishiki near Mount Fuji, where he was killed with a drug overdose. His body was destroyed in a microwave-powered incinerator before being disposed of in Lake Kawaguchi. Before Kariya was abducted, he had been receiving threatening phone calls demanding to know the whereabouts of his sister. He therefore left a note saying "If I disappear, I was abducted by Aum Shinrikyo."

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1995 Tokyo Sarin Gas Attack And Related Incidents

File:Sarin Wanted Poster.jpg

A wanted poster in Japan. As of March 2006 three people are still wanted in connection with the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway: (left to right) Shin Hirata, Katsuya Takahashi, and Naoko Kikuchi.

On the morning of 20th March 1995, Aum members released sarin in a co-ordinated attack on five trains in the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 commuters, seriously harming 54 and affecting 980 more. Some estimates claim as many as 5000 people were injured by the sarin. Prosecutors allege that Asahara was tipped off about planned police raids on the group's facilities by an insider, and ordered an attack in central Tokyo to divert attention away from the group. The plan evidently backfired, and the police conducted huge simultaneous raids on the group's compounds across the country. Over the next week, the full scale of Aum's activities was revealed for the first time.

At the group's headquarters in Kamikuishiki, Yamanashi|Kamikuishiki on the foot of Mount Fuji, police found explosives, chemical weapons and biological warfare agents, such as anthrax and Ebola cultures, and a Russian Mil Mi-8|MIL Mi-17 military helicopter. The Ebola virus was delivered from Zaire in 1994 .

On March 22, in a massive police raid involving 2500 police officers, the police seized two tons of chloroform and ethane, and fifteen bottles of ethylene, basic materials to produce 5.6 tons of sarin, a quantity sufficient to kill ten million people. The police also seized equipment used to manufacture the gas, as well as sizable quantities of raw materials for producing dynamite. In Asahara Shōkō's safe in the center of the building complex, they found ten kilograms of gold ingots and 700 million yen in cash (roughly seven million dollars; at the time, 100 yen equalled approximately one US dollar). They also found some fifty emaciated individuals whom they concluded were suffering from malnutrition or drugs, who were locked up in cells. At the sect's nearby heliport, firemen discovered an unauthorized storage facility containing more than 2,000 liters of fuel, along with a Soviet-manufactured Mi-17 helicopter that belonged to Maha-Posya, a Tokyo company whose president was Asahara Shōkō.There were stockpiles of chemicals which could be used for producing enough sarin to kill four million people. Police also found laboratories to manufacture drugs such as LSD, methamphetamines, and a crude form of truth serum, During the raids, Aum issued statements claiming that the chemicals were for fertilizers. Over the next 6 weeks, over 150 group members were arrested for a variety of offenses.

On 30th March, Takaji Kunimatsu, chief of the National Police Agency, was shot four times near his house in Tokyo, seriously wounding him. Many suspect Aum involvement in the shooting, but as of September 2006, no one has been charged.

Asahara, while on the run, issued statements, one claiming that the Tokyo attacks were a ploy by the US military to implicate the group, and another threatening a disaster that "would make the Kobe earthquake seem as minor as a fly landing on one's cheek." to occur on April 15. The authorities took the threat seriously, declaring a state of emergency, stocking up hospitals with antidotes to nerve gas while chemical warfare specialists of the Self-Defence Force were put on standby. However, the day came and went with no incident.

On April 23, Murai Hideo, the head of Aum's Ministry of Science, was stabbed to death outside the group's Tokyo headquarters amidst a crowd of about 100 reporters, in front of cameras. Although the man responsible - a Korean member of Yamaguchi-gumi - was arrested and eventually convicted of the murder, whether or not anyone was behind the assassination remains a unsolved mystery.

[[Image:Saikyo.jpg|thumb|right|200px|A train stopped at Shinjuku Station.On the evening of 5 May a burning paper bag was discovered in a toilet in Shinjuku station in Tokyo, the busiest station in the world. Upon examination it was revealed that it was a hydrogen cyanide device which, had it not been extinguished in time, would have released enough gas into the ventilation system to potentially kill 20,000 commuters. Cyanide devices were found several more times in the Tokyo subway but none detonated.

Shoko Asahara was finally found hiding within a wall of the groups building known as "The 6th Satian" in the Kamikuishiki complex on May 16th and was arrested. On the same day, the group mailed a parcel bomb to the office of Yukio Aoshima, the governor of Tokyo, blowing the fingers off his secretary's hand.

Asahara was initially charged with 23 counts of murder as well as 16 other offenses. The trial, labeled as "the trial of the century" by the press, found Asahara guilty of masterminding the attack and sentenced him to death. The indictment was appealed unsuccessfully. A number of senior members of the group also received death sentences. On September 15 2006, Shoko Asahara lost his final appeal.

After 1995

On October 10, 1995, Aum Shinrikyo was stripped of its official status as a "religious legal entity" and was declared bankrupt in early 1996. However the group continues to operate under the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion, funded by a successful computer business and donations, and is under strict surveillance by the police. Attempts to ban the group altogether under the 1952 Subversive Activities Prevention Law were rejected by the Public Security Examination Commission in January 1997.

After Asahyara's arrest and trial, the group underwent a number of transformations. In February, 2000, it re-grouped under the new name of Aleph. Religious texts related to controversial Buddhist doctrines that were claimed to justify murder were removed. The group apologized to the victims of the sarin gas attack and established a special compensation fund. Fumihiro Joyu, one of the few senior leaders of the group under Asahara, became the official head of the organization in 1999.

Since early 2000, the group has been under police surveillance.

As of December 2005 the group divided into two opposing groups due to disaggrements about its structure. A small group of members wanted to return to the structure of the group as it existed before 1995, when it was led by six senior executives. The current organizaation structure, as of 1005, was such that it was led by a single individual, Joyu. Joyu and his numerically larger faction advocated a course of action that was aimed at the re-integration into society. Another major issues was whether portraits of its founder Asahara should be retained or abandoned. Finally, in 2006 Joyu and a his supporters split from the other group because they believed it was too fundamentalist and unable to adapt to the realities they had to deal with. In March of 2007 Joyu formally announced the that he was forming a new group called Nikari no Wa, or Ring of Light. http://www.religionnewsblog.com/17668/joyu-fumihori-group-leaves-aum-shinrikyo] Joyu's group, called Hikari no Wa (Ring of Light) is committed to uniting science and religion, thus creating the new 'science of the human mind'.

International opposition

Several countries have designated Aum as a terrorist organization. These countries include the United States, Japan, and Canada. http://eur- ex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2005/l_340/l_34020051223en00640066.pdf].

Further reading

• Shoko Asahara, Supreme Initiation: An Empirical Spiritual Science for the Supreme Truth, 1988, AUM USA Inc, ISBN 0-945638-00-0. Highlights the main stages of Yogic and Buddhist practice, comparing Yoga-sutra system by Patanjali and the Eightfold Noble Path from Buddhist tradition.
• ---- Life and Death, (Shizuoka: Aum, 1993). Focuses on the process of Kundalini-Yoga, one of the stages in Aum's practice.
• ---- Disaster Approaches the Land of the Rising Sun: Shoko Asahara's Apocalyptic Predictions, (Shizuoka: Aum, 1995). A controversial book, later removed by Aum leadership, speaks about possible destruction of Japan.
• Hall, John, "Apocalypse Observed: Religious Movements and Violence in North America, Europe, and Japan" Routledge, London, 2000 ISBN 0-415-19276-5
• Ikuo Hayashi, Aum to Watakushi (Aum and I), Tokyo: Bungei Shunju, 1998. Book about personal experiences by former Aum member.
• Robert Jay Lifton, Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism, Henry Holt, ISBN 0-8050-6511-3,
• Haruki Murakami, Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche, Vintage, ISBN 0-375-72580-6
• Global Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: A Case Study on the Aum Shinrikyo, [USA] Senate Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, October 31, 1995. online
• David E. Kaplan, and Andrew Marshall, The Cult at the End of the World: The Terrifying Story of the Aum Doomsday Cult, from the Subways of Tokyo to the Nuclear Arsenals of Russia, 1996, Random House, ISBN 0-517-70543-5.
• Ian Reader, Religious Violence in Contemporary Japan: The Case of Aum Shinrikyo, 2000, Curzon Press

External links

• Aleph: the organization's official website, with an English section
• Aum Shinrikyo News Tracker/Archive Aum Shinrikyo news tracker/news archive. Up-to-the-minute.
• a Japan Times article about two documentary films on Aleph. In English.
• The 'De-nationalization' of AUM Followers: Its Hidden Political Purpose' ('Tsukuru', November 1999 - in English)
• David Kaplan explains his theory of connection between Al Quaeda, Aum Shinrikyo and Foundation sci-fi series by Isaac Asimov
• PSIA (Japan's Public Security Investigative Agency), report
  • Midnight Eye: A. A review of Tatsuya Mori's first documentary on Aleph.
• Blockbuster.com: A(1998) and A2 (2001)by Tatsuya Mori

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