The Cult at the End of the World

lobster

You could not make this stuff up. It is the true story of a semi Buddhist, messianic cult, gone almost ubelievably wrong
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Cult-End-World-Terrifying/dp/0517705435

Stay safe guys :wave:

genkaku

A good reminder of what any 'good' person, any 'good' endeavor, is entirely capable of.

mettanando

As well as a reminder of what any 'bad' person and 'bad' endeavour is entirely capable of.

genkaku

I guess "good" and "bad" are equally dubious.

mettanando

How " Zen ".
Would you gas people on the subway ? Or is that too judgemental and too straightforward ?
Not clever enough ?
If you have children and one of them had announced that he or she were about to join either the Aum cult or your local Zen group would you assure her or him that they were equal and equally dubious ?These weren't people involved in word games to indicate some superior position. Above the crowd. Smug in their semantic ivory towers. Seeing every situation as an opportunity to demonstrate their uncommon wisdom.
Both victims and perpetrators were someones kids. Someones parents . Someones sister /brother.What they did was bad. Bad.
By the criterion of any sane person who has not disappeared into their own world of denial and mistaken that world for non duality.

mettanando

I suspect genkaku that you are still young. In which case I should be more patient with your callowness.

genkaku

Sorry to put a burr under your saddle, @mettananado. That was not the intent any more than being Zen-glib was the intent. The intent was to point out that cults evolve from very respectable venues and that those venues are as apparent in the mind as they are on the subway system. Those in the goodness trade who imagine they have nothing to fear and that they are somehow adequately protected need to exercise some care ... this is really callow stuff.

Maybe it's a little like the precepts: We take 'em, we swear by 'em and, to the extent anyone is honest, we break 'em. At first, this is quite upsetting. With time, I think, the dime drops ... it is an attentive and responsible lifestyle rather than a 'good' lifestyle that counts.

mettanando

I am sure what you say about the precepts is true for most of us.
How that compares to deliberately setting out to gas people to death on a subway train escapes me.
That setting out consciously to become a mass murderer can be described as being inattentive and irresponsible seems an understatement worthy of an episode of Family Guy.

Arthurbodhi

More info about this bizarre sect in this article from wikipedia:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo

genkaku

@mettanando -- OK, how's this: "Naughty! Naughty! Naughty!" "Bad! Bad! Bad!" "Don't do that! Don't do that! Don't do that!" "Defend! Defend! Defend!"

AND... to the extent that anyone fails to recognize his or her own capacity (sometimes exercised, hopefully not) to commit heinous evils, to that extent precisely, his or her goodness will lack a secure foundation.

I always liked the old Buddhist chestnut, "Do good. Refrain from evil. And purify this mind."

mettanando

Pathetic. I will waste no more of my time.

Gui

@mettanando I think (I hope) you are missing the point. We all are capable of anything. And most atrocities have been from "good" people doing what they thought best. How else could war be possible?

Nevermind

mettanando said:

I suspect genkaku that you are still young. In which case I should be more patient with your callowness.

Young at heart, surely, with a soft touch.

Invincible_summer

mettanando said:

Pathetic. I will waste no more of my time.

So much for "metta"

TheEccentric

Aren't they that meditation class in Japan that went on to carry out that gas attack in the japanese subway?

lobster

TheEccentric said:

Aren't they that meditation class in Japan that went on to carry out that gas attack in the japanese subway?

yes

Try to avoid this type of 'sangha', they are not crazy wisdom practitioners.