Editing Shoko Asahara (section)

== Early life ==
Chizuo Matsumoto was born on March 3, 1955, the fourth son of a large, poor family of [[tatami]]-mat-makers in [[Kumamoto Prefecture]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/06/national/crime-legal/key-events-related-aum-shinrikyo-cult/|title=Key events related to Aum Shinrikyo cult|date=July 6, 2018|work=The Japan Times Online|access-date=July 7, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0447-5763|archive-date=July 8, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180708012250/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/06/national/crime-legal/key-events-related-aum-shinrikyo-cult/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=mod>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Modern Worldwide Extremists and Extremist Groups |last=Atkins |first=Stephen E. |year=2004 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |isbn=978-0-313-32485-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo0000atki/page/n58 27] |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo0000atki |url-access=registration }}</ref> He had [[infantile glaucoma]] from birth, which made him lose all sight in his left eye and go partially blind in his right eye at a young age. He was enrolled in a [[Blindness and education|school for the blind]] when he was 6 years old since he could not continue the family trade. He never lived with his family again.<ref name=mod/> 

Matsumoto discovered a way to earn money by directing other kids to a candy store, and as he was the only student in the school still capable of having some vision, this led to him becoming somewhat well-liked. However, Matsumoto was also known to be a [[bully]] at the school, taking advantage of the other students by beating and [[extortion|extorting]] money from them. During his adolescence, Matsumoto developed a fantasy about ruling a kingdom of robots with total power and confided in his schoolmates about his aspiration to rule [[Japan]] as [[Prime Minister of Japan|Prime Minister]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-03-27-mn-47649-story.html|title=Japanese Guru – A Youthful Bully's Quest for Power|last=Holley|first=David|date=March 27, 1995|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=July 7, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}</ref> 

He graduated in 1973 and applied to [[Graduate Schools for Law and Politics and Faculty of Law, University of Tokyo|Faculty of Law]] of [[University of Tokyo]], but was rejected. He then turned to the study of [[acupuncture]] and [[traditional Chinese medicine]], which were common careers for the blind in Japan, and he established a Chinese medicine shop outside [[Tokyo]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.itmonline.org/arts/japacu.htm |title=Japanese Acupuncture: Blind Acupuncturists, Insertion Tubes, Abdominal Diagnosis, and the Benten Goddess |first=Subhuti |last=Dharmananda |publisher=Institute for Traditional Medicine |access-date=July 23, 2009}}</ref> Asahara married the following year and eventually fathered six children, the eldest of whom was born in 1978.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/01/world/hard-legacy-for-japan-sect-leader-s-family.html|title=Hard Legacy for Japan Sect Leader's Family|last=Sims|first=Calvin|newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 2000 |access-date=July 6, 2018|language=en}}</ref> In 1981, Matsumoto was convicted of practicing pharmacy without a license and selling unregulated drugs, for which he was fined ¥200,000 (equivalent to about ¥270,000 in 2023).<ref>{{cite book|title=Voices of Trauma: Treating Psychological Trauma Across Cultures|url=https://archive.org/details/voicestraumatrea00droz|url-access=limited|last=Drozdek|first=Boris|author2=John P. Wilson|year=2007|publisher=[[Springer Science]]|isbn=978-0-387-69794-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/voicestraumatrea00droz/page/n77 61]}}</ref>

Matsumoto's interest in religion reportedly started at this time. Having been recently married, he worked to support his large and growing family.<ref>{{cite book|title=Aum Shinrikyo and Japanese youth|last=Métraux|first=Daniel Alfred|year=1999|publisher=[[University Press of America]]|isbn=978-0-7618-1417-7|page=11}}</ref> He dedicated his free time to the study of various religious concepts, starting with [[Chinese astrology]] and [[Taoism]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Controversial New Religions|url=https://archive.org/details/controversialnew00lewi_664|url-access=limited|last=Lewis|first=James R.|author2=Jesper Aagaard Petersen|year=2005|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=978-0-19-515683-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/controversialnew00lewi_664/page/n178 165]}}</ref> Later, Asahara practiced [[Western esotericism]], [[yoga]], [[meditation]], [[esoteric Buddhism]], and [[esoteric Christianity]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/26/world/guru-s-journey-special-report-seer-among-blind-japanese-sect-leader-s-rise.html|title=A Guru's Journey -- A special report.; The Seer Among the Blind: Japanese Sect Leader's Rise|last=Wudunn|first=Nicholas D. Kristof With Sheryl|newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 26, 1995 |access-date=July 9, 2018}}</ref> Matsumoto let his hair and beard grow and adopted the name Shoko Asahara. 

Starting in 1984, Asahara made several pilgrimages to [[India]], where he met [[Tenzin Gyatso]], the 14th [[Dalai Lama]]. Asahara later claimed to his followers that he managed to achieve [[Enlightenment in Buddhism|Enlightenment]], met [[Shiva]], and was given a "special mission" to preach "real [[Buddhism]]" in [[Japan]]. The [[14th Dalai Lama|Dalai Lama]] later distanced himself from Asahara and said that he had met "a strange Japanese man", but denied having any significant relationship with him. Asahara returned permanently to [[Japan]] in 1987 and assumed the title ''sonshi'' meaning "[[guru]]" before stating that he had mastered [[meditation]] to such an extent that he could lift himself with his mind. He promoted this achievement with pamphlets produced by his own publishing company, but outside a few Japanese periodicals with an occult subject, little publicity was achieved.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/06/national/crime-legal/executed-aum-leader-shoko-asahara/|title=Shoko Asahara: From poor upbringing to cult leader|date=July 6, 2018|work=The Japan Times Online|access-date=July 9, 2018|issn=0447-5763|archive-date=July 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180706081139/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/06/national/crime-legal/executed-aum-leader-shoko-asahara/|url-status=dead}}</ref>