Editing Shoko Asahara (section)

===Early activities===
Although Aum was considered controversial in [[Japan]], it was not initially associated with serious crimes until Asahara became obsessed with [[Bible prophecy|Biblical prophecies]]. Aum's public relations activities included publishing comics and animated cartoons that attempted to tie its religious ideas to popular [[anime]] and [[manga]] themes, including space missions, powerful weapons, world conspiracies, and the quest for ultimate truth.<ref>{{cite book|title=Japanese Visual Culture: Explorations in the World of Manga and Anime|last=Macwilliams|first=Mary Wheeler|year=2008|publisher=[[M. E. Sharpe]]|isbn=978-0-7656-1602-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/japanesevisualcu0000unse/page/211 211]|url=https://archive.org/details/japanesevisualcu0000unse/page/211}}</ref> Aum published several magazines including ''[[Vajrayana]] Sacca'' and ''Enjoy Happiness'', adopting a somewhat missionary attitude.<ref name=controversial/> [[Isaac Asimov]]'s science fiction ''[[Foundation (book series)|Foundation Trilogy]]'' was referenced "depicting as it does an elite group of spiritually evolved scientists forced to go underground during an age of barbarism so as to prepare themselves for the moment...when they will emerge to rebuild civilization".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/aug/24/alqaida.sciencefictionfantasyandhorror|work=The Guardian|location=London|title=What is the origin of the name al-Qaida?|date=August 24, 2002|access-date=April 25, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100405110855/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/aug/24/alqaida.sciencefictionfantasyandhorror|archive-date=April 5, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> It has been posited that Aum's publications used Christian and Buddhist ideas to impress what he considered to be the more shrewd and educated Japanese who were not attracted to boring, purely traditional [[sermon]]s.<ref name=lifton>{{cite book|last=Lifton|first=Robert Jay|title=Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism|place=New York|publisher=Macmillan|year=2000}}</ref>{{rp|258}}

Advertising and recruitment activities, dubbed the "Aum Salvation plan", included claims of curing physical illnesses with health improvement techniques, realizing life goals by improving intelligence and positive thinking, and concentrating on what was important at the expense of leisure. This was to be accomplished by practicing ancient teachings, accurately translated from original [[Pali]] [[sutra]]s. These efforts resulted in Aum being able to recruit a variety of people ranging from bureaucrats to personnel from the [[Japanese Self-Defense Forces]] and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.<ref name="WIRED">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/1996/07/aum/ |title=The Cult at the End of the World |magazine=Wired |last1=Kaplan |first1=David E. }}</ref> Authors [[David E. Kaplan (author)|David Kaplan]] and [[Andrew Marshall (Asia journalist)|Andrew Marshall]], in their 1996 book, ''The Cult at the End of the World'', claim that initiation rituals often involved the use of [[hallucinogen]]s, such as [[Lysergic acid diethylamide|LSD]]. Religious practices often involved extremely ascetic practices claimed to be "yoga". These included everything from renunciants being hung upside down to being given [[Electroconvulsive therapy|shock therapy]].<ref name=kaplan2>{{cite book|last1=Kaplan|first1=David E.|first2=Andrew|last2=Marshall|year=1996|title=The Cult at the End of The World|place=London, UK|publisher=Hutchinson}}</ref>

The [[cult]] started attracting controversy in the late-1980s with accusations of deception of recruits, holding cult members against their will, forcing members to donate money and murdering a cult member who tried to leave in February 1989.<ref name=cultdeath>{{cite news|title=Aum member tells of 2 deaths at compound|work=The Daily Yomiuri |location=Tokyo|page=1|date=September 24, 1995}}</ref><ref name=rearrest>{{cite news|title=Asahara rearrested in 1989 cultist murder|work=The Daily Shimbun |page=2|date=October 21, 1995}}</ref> Kaplan and Marshall alleged in their book that Aum was also connected with such activities as [[extortion]]. The group, authors report, "commonly took patients into its hospitals and then forced them to pay exorbitant medical bills".<ref name=kaplan2/>