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Aum Shinrikyō Discussion Group; Conclusions 2

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2. What Was Aum Shinrikyō?

The Aum Affair woke modern Japan up to the potential dangers of religion. Among the many questions it raised was whether or not Aum Shinrikyō was a true religious organization. In the ensuing discussion it became clear that the answer to this question depended largely on what the discussant’s definition of religion was. The members of the Aum Shinrikyō Discussion Group found Rev. Uematsu Sōchū’s comments especially helpful for assessing the nature of Aum spirituality, in particular his observation that while Aum Shinrikyō’s practice was relatively faithful to the teachings of Esoteric Buddhism, Asahara Shōkō himself never attained the ultimate experience of Mahamudra (spiritual Great Death).
          One feature of Aum Shinrikyō that stands out when considering the Aum Affair is the organization’s character as a distinctly “modern” cult. As described in “Aum Shinrikyō Discussion Group; Conclusions 1,” the essential characteristic of such cults is that they constitute a challenge to modern humanism, an attempt to, in effect, blow a hole through the modern social system through which they can make their escape. However, for Aum Shinrikyō modernity was not only the adversary but also an integral part of Asahara’s teachings and practices, as well as of what those teachings and practices aspired to. That is, even as it challenged modern humanism Aum Shinrikyō partook of the karmic illness underlying it, and this, I believe, is the fundamental cause of the organization’s transformation into a fanatical cult.  
          For those whose suffering drives them to challenge modern humanism, this challenge should ideally be an attempt to overcome the anthropocentric viewpoint that sees everything from the human eye level and, from there, to grasp existence anew at a level that transcends humanity. It is humanity’s attempt to rid itself of its self-imposed karmic constraints, return to the wellsprings of its existence, and from there re-experience the meaning of being human and the true nature of the fundamental human qualities of liberty, equality, and charity. Through most of human history these attempts, being essentially transcendent in their aims, have been religious in nature. However, with the acceptance of the scientific worldview as the ultimate truth and the consequent rejection of the traditional religious bi-dimensional worldview, modern humanity was left unable to place its faith in the literal existence of the “Kingdom of God,” “Buddha Realm,” or “Pure Land” as taught by the established religions. Those who seek transcendence of the human condition yet cannot believe in the paths to salvation taught by traditional religions therefore must look to the subconscious ego of depth psychology for their answers. It is a direction that stresses mystical experiences that are strongly occult in character.  
          The characteristic shared by all of these cults is their belief that within the depths of, or underlying, the ordinary conscious ego there exists a vast unknown latent power or spiritual realm; that this power or realm can be accessed and experienced through specific practices or training; that through this experience one can participate in the true operation of the universe transcending the superficial logical world centered around the conscious ego and obtain unlimited mystical powers; and that in this way the world of the ego and the world of transcendence are interconnected. Aum Shinrikyō was a fanatical cult of this modern mystical type in which the occult orientation was particularly strong.
          The “liberation” preached by Aum signifies the acquisition of supernatural powers through the experience of a mystical world that forms a type of objective presence underlying and transcending the ego. What is fundamentally lacking in this view of liberation is critical reflection upon the ego that aspires to this mystical world of liberation. As Hirata Seikō Roshi suggested in his comment that the occult attempts to understand that which cannot be explained by the scientific law of cause and effect by seeking the explanation in other cause-and-effect relationships, occult groups like Aum Shinrikyō are always attempting to look beyond the ego and for that very reason they never realize that their gaze is itself the expression of the ego’s karmic bonds. Thus they lose themselves in their self-created fantasies and illusions, failing to realize how profound the roots of our ego attachment are. The more they imagine various mystical worlds beyond the ego and attempt to experience them the more deeply entrapped they become in another form of karmic ego bondage.
          In earlier times humanity experienced the developmental stage of religion that emphasized magic. With the realization of human karmic bondage, however, humanity awoke to the fact that we are destined to wander in the world of ego attachment throughout our lives. The suffering attendant on this awakening opened the way to true religion—religion centered in the spirit of prayer. Prayer is the expression of humanity’s earnest aspiration to drop all ego attachments and live encompassed in the eternal life that is the source of all existence. It is only with this that humanity is able to shed its karmic bonds and encounter that which is truly transcendent.
          Aum Shinrikyō lacked the spirit of prayer, and had no concept of the spirit of the four Buddhist vows (“sentient beings are numberless, I vow to save them all; deluded passions are inexhaustible, I vow to end them all; the Dharma teachings are infinte, I vow to master them all; the Buddha way is unsurpassable, I vow to complete it”). This situation speaks of the fact that Asahara lacked the Mahamudra experience that he himself identifies as the essence of Aum spirituality. Aum Shinrikyō, made up though it was of people awakened in some sense to the suffering of the human condition, remained unaware that acceptance of that suffering as the nature of human existence was the key to the realm which embraces human beings just as they are. Aum attempted to attain superhuman powers and thereby escape human suffering, in effect rejecting their own humanity. This was the ground from which their “chosen people” consciousness and twisted interpretation of the Tibetan concept of poa (killing evil beings to free them of bad karma) emerged.
          When we think of the appropriate posture to take as Zen priests with regard to the Aum organization, we should remember Hirata Roshi’s advice: though we must have confidence in our position as Zen priests, this doesn’t mean we possess something special. It simply means doing our best to live as Zen monks, even in the midst of uncertainty. In the face of the Aum Affair it is best to contemplate the words of the Buddhist ancestors: “In the Buddhadharma there is nothing mysterious.”
 
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