Shinrikyo Aum is a syncretic belief system that draws upon Asahara's idiosyncratic interpretations of elements of early Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as Hinduism, taking Shiva as the main image of worship and incorporating millennialist ideas from Christianity, Yoga, and the writings of Nostradamus.[14][15] Its founder, Chizuo Matsumoto, claimed that he sought to restore "original Buddhism" but employed Christian millenarian rhetoric.[16] In 1992, Matsumoto, who had changed his name to Shoko Asahara, published a foundational book, declaring himself to be "Christ",[17] Japan's only fully enlightened master, as well as identifying himself as the "Lamb of God".[18]
Asahara's purported mission was to take upon himself the sins of the world, and he claimed he could transfer spiritual power to his followers and ultimately take away their sins and bad deeds.[19] While some reject Aum Shinrikyo's claims of Buddhist characteristics and affiliations with Buddhism, other scholars refer to it as an offshoot of Japanese Buddhism,[20] and this was how the movement generally defined and saw itself.[21]
Asahara outlined a doomsday prophecy, which included a Third World War instigated by the United States.[22]
According to Robert Jay Lifton, an American psychiatrist and author:
[Asahara] described a final conflict culminating in a nuclear 'Armageddon', borrowing the term from the Book of Revelation 16:16"[23]
Humanity would end, except for the elite few who joined Aum.[24] Aum's mission was not only to spread the word of salvation, but also to survive these End Times. Asahara predicted that Armageddon would occur in 1997.[24] Kaplan notes that in his lectures, Shoko Asahara referred to the United States as "The Beast" from the Book of Revelation, predicting it would eventually attack Japan.[24]
Arthur Goldwag, author of a book on conspiracies and secret societies, characterizes Asahara as one who "saw dark conspiracies everywhere promulgated by Jews, Freemasons, the Dutch, the British royal family, and rival Japanese religions".[25]
In the opinion of Daniel A. Metraux, Aum Shinrikyo justified its violence through its own unique interpretation of Buddhist ideas and doctrines, such as the Buddhist concepts of Mappō and Shōbō. Aum claimed that by bringing about the end of the world, they would restore Shōbō.[26] Furthermore, Lifton believes, Asahara "interpreted the Tibetan Buddhist concept of phowa in order to claim that by killing someone contrary to the group's aims, they were preventing them from accumulating bad karma and thus saving them".[23]
The name "Aum Shinrikyo" (オウム真理教, Oumu Shinrikyō), usually rendered in English as "Aum Supreme Truth", derives from the Sanskrit syllable Aum, used to represent the universe, followed by the Japanese Shinrikyo (meaning, roughly, "Teaching of Truth") written in kanji. (In Japanese, kanji are often used to write both Sino-xenic and native Japanese words, but only rarely to transcribe direct borrowings from other languages.)
In 2000, the organization changed its name to "Aleph" (a reference to the first letter of the Phoenician, Hebrew, and Arabic alphabets), and it also replaced its logo.[citation needed]
