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Nazis, Buddhism and Jew-hate: the deeply disturbing alliance

Do not fall for the assumption that Buddhism is harmless and rooted in peace. Its history shows something very different

July 9, 2021 14:12
bnw Shoko Asahara GettyImages-1166914235
TO GO WITH STORY "JAPAN-SECT-COURT"(FILES) This file photo dated October 1990 shows the leader of the Aum Supreme Truth, Shoko Asahara. The trial of the founder of a doomsday cult that attacked the Tokyo subway, Shoko Asahara, is at a crossroads with his lawyers saying his mind is in "another world" ahead of a decision that could send him to the gallows. A court 19 August 2005 ordered Asahara to undergo psychiatric tests for the first time since the 50-year-old former acupuncturist was arrested in 1995 at a commune near Mount Fuji. AFP PHOTO/JIJI PRESS FILES (Photo by AFP / JIJI PRESS/FILES / AFP) / Japan OUT (Photo credit should read AFP/AFP via Getty Images)
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On March 20, 1995, the Buddhist doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo carried out a sarin attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 13 commuters and seriously injuring 54 more. The cult tried to justify its terrorism through an interpretation of Buddhist ideas and doctrines, with the goal of bringing back a golden era when the teachings of the Buddha are followed by all. 

Less well-known is that two months earlier, the cult declared war on Jews by publishing Manual of Fear: The Jewish Ambition – Total World Conquest, which claimed that Jews were taking advantage of Japan. The cult called its enemies “Jewish Japanese”.

Antisemitism among Buddhists is not uncommon. Zen master Hakuun Yasutani (1885-1973), known in the UK through Philip Kapleau’s The Three Pillars of Zen, believed Jews to be advocating “evil” ideas, such as freedom and equality. After WWII, Yasutani became a principal teacher of influential people in the American Buddhist community. 

Tanaka Chigaku (1861-1939), a Buddhist scholar and preacher of Nichiren Buddhism, wrote that Jews would destroy morality. But the most popular Buddhist antisemite from Japan was D T Suzuki.