Philosophy

Aum Shinrikyo combined philosophies from Buddhism, Hinduism, the Christianity armageddon, and the predictions of Nostradamus. Over the next few years, Aum Shinrikyo would amass a fortune totalling near one billion USD and gain the following of many young professionals, chemists, engineers and scientists.

At an Aum conference in 1987, Asahara claimed that nuclear war was “sure to break out” between 1999 and 2003. He then advised that the only way to prevent their extinction would be to set up Aum sects in all corners of the world. “Spread the training system of Aum on a global scale and scatter Buddhas over the world,” he spoke. “Then we can avoid World War III for sure. I guarantee it.”

Pictured is Shiva the Destroyer, patron god of the Aum cult.

After the speech, followed a stockpiling of weapons eventually culminating with the attacks against Japanese civilians. While some may say that these violent attacks by Aum were without reason or motivation, Bruce Hoffman believes otherwise. In his book Inside Terrorism he wrote, “Aum’s objective, however, was not, as many have described it, wanton, mass indiscriminate murder as an end in itself, but the acquisition and unimpeded exercise of political power. Theological treatise and religious imperatives clearly played a preeminent role in the justification behind and motivation for Aum’s campaign of violence and subversion. But killing for the sake of killing was not the engine driving Asahara’s and the movement’s grandiose ambitions." In short, Asahara sought political influence through his cult's violent acts.