1996 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
The Formation of New Religion and the Change of Region
| Project/Area Number |
07610161
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
社会学(含社会福祉関係)
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| Research Institution | Hokkaido University |
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Principal Investigator |
SAKURAI Yoshihide Hokkaido University, Fac.of Let., Associate Professor, 文学部, 助教授 (50196135)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1995 – 1996
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| Keywords | Aum-Shinrikyo / Tenchi Seikyo / 'Mind-Control theory / cult / Unification Church / Maitreya |
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| Research Abstract |
New Light on the Theory of Religious Sect : A Aum-Shinrikyo and Tenchi Seikyo
This paper will first outline the brief history of Aum-Shinrikyo and the charges of destructive action towards citizens, as well as the discursive arguments about what cause produced such a religious sect in contemporary Japan. Last year, special TV programs about Aum-Shinrikyo's affairs monopolized the Japanese media, and some journalists and scholars, critical of the new religion, introduced 'Mind-Control theory' from the USA.
This analysis will secondly focus on the mind-control techniques that a destructive cult uses to establish control over believers. The founder and leaders of Aum-Shinrikyo are suspected of having persuaded innocent young people to commit awful crimes. However, mind-control cannot be conceptually distinguished from other social interaction processes such as socialization, personal communication and mass communication. Those processes surely shape individual thought and direct action towa
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rd particular points of view. Therefore, the mind-control theory is not logical in terms of sociology and social phychology. Rather, it has come to be used when labeling certain religious groups. Also, the pejorative use of the word 'cult' sometimes occurs in these cases. When we try to understand the conversion and religious activities of believers, we should not consider them deceived but realize their motivation and the circumstances surrounding their conversion -- even in the case of a cult.
Third, Tenchiseikyo was formally small religious sect established by a Japanese female shamanist, Kawase Kayo, however recently this sect was merged by the Unification Church, so that the Rem. San Myong Muum, the founder of the Unification Church, are respected as the Miroku-bosatu (Maitreya : the Buddha who is believed to appear in future, 56 billion years after the dead of Buddha). The analysis firstly focuses on the process of reformation of the small religious sect into the large sect related to the Unification Church from 1988 to 1996. Secondly, the life history of Kawase Kayo shows the typical female founder of new religion in modern Japan. She was not deceived by the member of Unificaiton Church, but she converted her shamanistic and folk belief into Maitreya millennium. Less
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Research Products
(2 results)
