Aum Shinrikyo
Sarin subway perpetrators
Aum Shinrikyo is a Japanese doomsday cult founded in 1984 that combined Buddhist and Hindu beliefs with apocalyptic prophecy.
The group gained worldwide notoriety for the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack, which killed thirteen people and injured thousands.
The name combines the Sanskrit sacred syllable "aum" with Japanese words meaning "supreme truth." The Aum Shinrikyo attacks prompted major reforms in Japanese counterterrorism policy.
- cultFervent fringe group
- terrorismIntimidation through targeted violence
- Branch DavidiansApocalyptic Texas sect
- religionSystem of spiritual belief
- belief systemCoherent set of convictions
doomsday cult · doomsday prophecy · end times · Manson Family · chemical weapons · Tokyo · sarin gas · Al-Qaeda · 1995 · subway · nerve agent · poison gas · asceticism · mass murder · apocalyptic · spiritual practices · Church of Scientology · fanatics
- cultsbrainwashing, mind control, Scientology, Jonestown, Jim Jones
- Heisei Japanbubble burst, deflation, economic stagnation, Fukushima, Shinzo Abe
- Modern Religionevangelicalism, fundamentalism, Pentecostalism, New Age, Scientology
- New ReligionsScientology, Hare Krishna, ISKCON, Unification Church, Branch Davidians
- Sectscult, Gnostics, sect, Shia, Sunni
- Japanese ReligionsShinto, Zen Buddhism
Aum ShinrikyoRed Cross
International emergency relief organization
Doctors Without Borders · Quakers · Jains · Mennonites · Salvation Army