Made in 2011, new data may be available, still this is a brief educational description of a destructive cult

1. Aum Shinrikyo
A.K.A
Aleph
Japan
Created in 2011

2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-
zW4UCORXVs&feature=related

3. Who is the Group's
Leader?
●The group was founded by Shoko Asahar
oBorn into poor Family
oWent blind at young age
oStudied of acupuncture and traditional
Chinese Medicine
oWaiting execution

4. What philosophy of the Group?
●Beliefs
oliberation from suffering and illness, and Mullins states
oApocalyptic movement- world will come to an end soon
oFull of Hindu motifs and practices, the primary deity in Aum is
Shiva, the god of destruction.
oThe ultimate goal: each individual member was to attain
buddhahood through initiation by the master himself
oAsahara had already "explored the inner world of self" and
promised levitation, clairvoyance, and a breaking of the life cycle
oAsahara stressed isolation as crucial in serious training as the
impure outside world only contaminated members. Tight bonds
kept all those involved pure

5. Clan Is Still Active
●This clan is still very active
●Many devoted memebers are throughout Japan and
Russia
●The leader is in jail and they still recruit to this day and
have seminars.
●Still considered a threat to society

6. Members
●Claimed:
o10,000 Japanese
o30,000 Russians
●Organization was attractive to a broader population
group
●Use of hallucinogens are used along with LSD
●Religious practices referred to as "yoga"
oThese included being hung upside down to being
given shock therapy
●Members usually young
oConsisting of females and males

7. How long has this group existed/are they
still alive?
●group found in 1984 by Shoko Asahara
●The group gained international notoriety in
1995
●They are still active and dangerous. But they
can't be as dangerous as they were before as the
former leader. Asahara, was already arrested.

8. What tactics do they use to recruit new
members?
●The cult succeeded in recruiting highly trained scientists and
graduate students in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine
and electrical engineering.
●Its recruiting methods include a wide range of standard
brainwashing techniques, such as sleep deprivation and
forced isolation.

9. What publicity has the group gotten
●five chemical devices disguised as lunch boxes and soft-drink
containers had spewed poison through subway cars converging on
Tokyo's government hub (3/20/1995)

10. Would you consider the
group a destructive cult?
● a destructive cult
●complete obedience and commitment to the leader
●requires separation from society
●uses deception in recruitment
●manipulates guilt in members

11. Works Cited
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.rickross.com/images/ashara2.jpg&i
mgrefurl=http://www.rickross.com/groups/asahara.html&usg=__GqdsdRcL4EIkmbw-
Z7k_z4LbnCI=&h=209&w=165&sz=36&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=uk1vylRvT
Z3NdM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=105&ei=d-
6RTaeEJYr1gAeel7Ua&prev=/images%3Fq%3Daum%2Bshinrikyo%26um%3D1%26
hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D552%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&it
bs=1&iact=hc&vpx=267&vpy=141&dur=4463&hovh=167&hovw=132&tx=118&ty=7
9&oei=d-6RTaeEJYr1gAeel7Ua&page=1&ndsp=25&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_AUM01.htm
http://www.sullivan-county.com/id3/aum.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo