#PLATFORM OF RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION, ALEPH

Issued on February 4, 2000
Revised on July 26, 2000
Revised on August 24, 2001

We really want to maintain our wholesome and lawful spiritual life and at the same time establish harmonious relations with local residents. We hereby enact this platform with unshakable resolution to make a fresh start. We therefore request for support of as many people as possible.

1. How Religious Organization Aleph Came into Being
We deeply regret and feel very sorry that the Aum Shinrikyo-related incidents including the 1995 Tokyo subway nerve gas attack have caused a lot of victims.
Most Aum Shinrikyo followers, who were not involved in the incidents, were sure as well as hoped it would turn out that the Religious Corporation Aum Shinrikyo has nothing to do with the incidents.
As trials proceeded, however, it turned out that members of the Religious Corporation Aum Shinrikyo were involved in the incidents.

Consequently, on December 1, 1999, with the sense of moral obligation, the non-registered religious group Aum Shinrikyo, which was formed after the cancellation of registration and dissolution of the Religious Corporation Aum Shinrikyo, officially expressed their deep apology to the victims and the people of the nation. At the same time they expressed their intention to cooperate with the bankruptcy administrators foundation for Aum Shinrikyo in compensating for damages inflicted upon the victims.

After a careful examination, we reached the conclusion that the Aum Shinrikyo leader, Mr. Shoko Asahara, might have been involved in the incidents.
Then we came up with the idea that we should dissolve the existing system. With a new vision of the future, which was derived from the reflection on the past conducts and from the understanding of the incidents, we thought we should transform ourselves into a brand new organization.
And here today we announce the foundation of Aleph, a new religious organization, and appeal for participation to those interested in and supportive of its purpose and objective stipulated below.

2. How the Group Looks at the Incidents and Corresponds to Them
(1) Aleph and its members understand that members of the former Religious Corporation Aum Shinrikyo were involved in the incidents and that the then Aum Shinrikyo leader, Mr. Shoko Asahara, might have been involved as well.
(2) Aleph and its members shall never justify the incidents by any means.
(3) Aleph and its members shall never get involved in similar incidents.
(4) Aleph and its members shall completely leave the resolution of the incidents to the legal system including the court.
(5) Admission to Aleph of those involved in the incidents shall be approved only when they feel deeply sorry for their crimes and swear in writing that they will never repeat the similar incidents.

3. How Aleph Corresponds to Those involved in the Incidents
Aleph shall sincerely execute its contract with the bankruptcy administrators foundation for Aum Shinrikyo dated on July 6, 2000. Its members shall cooperate with it in the execution of the contract.
Note: The contract between Aleph and the bankruptcy administrators foundation is for Aleph to help the foundation compensate to the victims for the damages caused by the Aum Shinrikyo-related incidents on the basis of its deep regret about the incidents. The contract was officially recognized by the Tokyo District Court of Japan.

4. Strict Prohibition of Unlawful Activities
The members of Aleph shall do their best to abide by the laws and ordinances of the society and shall never engage in unlawful activities including wounding and killing, to say nothing of indiscriminant mass murder. Should a member commit an illegal act, the member shall not be allowed to express an objection even if the person is deprived of his/her membership of Aleph.

5. The Teaching of Aleph
1) Out of the teachings of the late Aum Shinrikyo organization, Ancient Yoga, Early Buddhism, and Mahayana Buddhism are the sources of the teaching of Aleph.
2) Aleph shall never adopt the parts of the teaching that are said to be dangerous because they are said to have had something to do with the incidents. (Hereinafter these parts of the teaching are called for short as "teaching likely to be dangerous") Aleph shall discard "the teaching likely to be dangerous" for good.
3) The scripture of Aleph shall be compiled on the basis of its teaching. Aleph shall see to it that all the members understand this without exception.
4) The members of Aleph shall never put "the teaching likely to be dangerous" into practice. Should any of them do it, the member shall not be allowed to express an objection even if the member is expelled from Aleph.
5) As for "the teaching likely to be dangerous", Aleph shall set up a task force to examine and select the teaching so that the elements at risk in the future can be rooted out as many as possible.

6. Definition of the True Victor who has attained Supreme Enlightenment and the Position of former Aum Shinrikyo Leader Shoko Asahara
We believe that the Lord Shiva and other Buddhas (the True Victors) are beings who have attained Supreme and Complete Enlightenment. In our definition, any human beings who are still alive cannot be the ones who have attained Supreme and Complete Enlightenment. Former Aum Shinrikyo leader Shoko Asahara has left us a lot of things. These include interpretations of Yoga and Buddhism scriptures, detailed methods for practice, initiations, and so on. We adopted only those that are irrelevant to the incidents. He is not the representative, a board member, or even a member of Aleph, who can exert influence on Aleph’s decision making process.

7. Establishing Harmonious Relations with Local Residents
The non-registered religious organization Aum Shinrikyo, suffered from fierce opposition across the nation and ended up being strictly restricted by the so-called Antisubversive law and like.
The members of Aleph shall take this seriously and shall learn their lessons.
Backed by the idea of Mahayana Buddhism, the members also shall make their efforts to make themselves understood and accepted by local residents as member through peaceful means such as dialogues.
Besides, in case the facilities are suspected as belonging to former Aum Shinrikyo, a private organization neither controlled nor protected by law, they shall be opened to local residents, or even brought down or left when necessary. Thus Aleph shall weigh public welfare by trying to remove local residents' unrest and to promote better understanding each other.
Furthermore, Aleph shall make its effort to reform the closeness of its predecessor and to achieve the following targets.
1) Democratic management of the system based on the consensus of the members;
2) Adoption of beneficial instructions and advice from outside;
3) Clean accounting;
4) Official announcement of the locations of its footholds.

8. Managerial Bylaws
Bylaws necessary to the management of Aleph shall be provided in separate rules.
The members of Aleph shall hereby firmly swear that they humbly look back on the past and make their utmost effort to fulfill the purposes stipulated in this Platform.