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Salvation and Violence in Japanese Buddhism: The Case of Aum Shinrikyō

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The Dao Companion to Japanese Buddhist Philosophy

Part of the book series: Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy ((DCCP,volume 8))

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Abstract

Buddhism has the reputation of being a peaceful religion that is opposed to violence. This applies to the context of Japanese Buddhism as well. However, the recent events caused by Aum Shinrikyō オウム真理教 suggest that even Buddhists can be extremely violent. In the following essay I will discuss how the leadership and members of Aum Shinrikyō became violent, even though Buddhist tradition propagates the prescriptions of no killing and no violence. How was it possible for Aum members to engage in these killings? What was the larger objective? How could these actions be rationalized in religious terms? And how did those who participated in the acts of killing as salvation feel during and after the acts? In this paper, I will analyze the appropriation of Buddhist and other traditions by Aum Shinrikyō by focusing on the idea of salvation closely connected with violence. The real horror of Aum Shinrikyō was that its crimes and the harm it caused to others were based on its peculiar soteriology. Therefore, we must pursue the issue of how its violence is related to its world-view and doctrines.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For a more detailed discussion of the concept of “upāya” see Fujita, Kōkan 藤田光寛. 1995. “Bosatsujikaibon ni tokareru sesshō ni tsuite” 〈菩薩地戒品〉に説かれる「殺生」について [On the ‘Act of Killing’as described in the Chapter on the Precepts of the Bodhisattvabhūmi]. Mikkyō Bunka 密教文化 191: 150. (Fujita 1995: 150) and Python’s Vinaya-Viniścaya-Upāli-Pariprcchā (Python 1973: §20, §§42–43).

  2. 2.

    See the Skill-in-Means Sūtra (Upāyakauśalya Sūtra) (Tatz 1994: 73–74) and Keown’s “Paternalism in the Lotus Sūtra” (Keown 1998: 203f).

  3. 3.

    See The Skill-in-Means Sūtra (Upāyakauśalya Sūtra) (Tatz 1994: 73).

  4. 4.

    This term, literally “Yin Yang Way,” refers to practitioners of Daoism during the Heian period.

  5. 5.

    See Manabe’s 真鍋 Jakyō tachikawaryū 邪教・立川流 (Manabe 1999).

  6. 6.

    Abiraketsu might be derived from abiraunken, that is, a vi ra hūṃ khaṃ or a va ra ha kha in Sanskrit. The former is the mantra for Mahāvairōcana in one of the two great mandalas. The latter means the five elements: earth, water, fire, wind, and sky. In the doctrine of the Shingon sect “abiraunken” (S. a vi ra hūṃ khaṃ) and “a va ra ha kha” were regarded as corresponding to each other (see Takai 1985: 120).

  7. 7.

    It is probable that Asahara read the Japanese translation of C. W. Leadbeater’s The Chakras: A Monograph (Leadbeater 1978).

  8. 8.

    Takashima explains that “[t]he System of upāya and šaktipāta in Kashmir Śaivism” (Takashima 1986: 55–84). Although shaktīpat is traditionally derived from Šaivism and has nothing to do with Buddhism, it is probable that Asahara imitated some yogins or gurus like Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh.

  9. 9.

    This book exerted an immense influence on Asahara and his believers including the concept of poa. Once Nakazawa himself claimed that a third of Aum believers read this book of his.

  10. 10.

    SHIMAZONO Susumu 島薗進 gives a thorough analysis of the concepts of Tantrayāna and Vajrayāna in his recent book Gendai Shūkyō no kanōsei: ōmu shinrikyō to bōryoku 現代宗教の可能性—オウム真理教と暴力 (Possibilities of Contemporary Religions: Aum Shinrikyō and Violence) (Shimazono 1997: 40–68).

  11. 11.

    YAMABE Nobuyoshi 山部能宜 kindly suggested to me the relationship between the cloning of the guru and shabyō in his personal e-mail to me.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan

    Manabu Watanabe

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  1. Manabu Watanabe
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Luther College, Decorah, IA, USA

    Gereon Kopf

  2. University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Gereon Kopf

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Watanabe, M. (2019). Salvation and Violence in Japanese Buddhism: The Case of Aum Shinrikyō. In: Kopf, G. (eds) The Dao Companion to Japanese Buddhist Philosophy. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2924-9_10

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