Aum Shinrikyo - Research Paper Example

This religious organization promotes their way of living by giving up any worldly pleasures since they believe that offering yourself solely to the organization would mean acceptance from its leader. The members of this cult are expected to focus and dedicate their lives to the Supreme Truth. Aum Shinrikyo, as portrayed by Reader (2000, p. 2), is an “introverted yet aggressive movement.” Their followers are young but highly educated ones who chose to give up their careers, belongings, and even their families.

They have to give up even their identity so as to follow their blind leader who is a guru figure to them. Their followers are fascinated since they believe that their leader can levitate and can only transfer the spiritual power by way of initiation. He also added that this initiation often includes rituals which require the coming member to drink his bath of water or blood. Further, Shoko Asahara taught his followers the apocalypse is true and it will happen soon. According to Juergensmeyer (2000, p. 107), the members concluded that Aum Shinrikyo movement does not just provide them a “mystical personal experience”, but it also gave them a new social order which they consider to be a transformed egalitarian community.

Hence, Aum Shinrikyo is not just a religious movement, but it is also known as an organization that practices biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction (Juergensmeyer, 2000, p. 103). Moreover, this Japanese apocalyptic cult became more popular after the tragic incident that happened in March 1995 (Tucker, 2000, p. 218). This was when the group initiated a chemical weapon of mass destruction in a subway station in Tokyo. It was considered to be the cult’s deadliest and most dangerous act after many failed attempts.

The attack caused several casualties to the passengers of the five trains on three major lines, which are in the central Tokyo subway station in Kasumigaseki