The organization of Aum Shinrikyo is based explicitly on their religious beliefs and their adherence to sacred texts.  Their religious beliefs are based on a mixture of teachings made up primarily of Buddhism and Hinduism, and some mystic aspects from other religions.  Their basis in Buddhism is made obvious by their belief that, through devotion to religious teachings and self-discipline, a follower may climb to higher and higher levels of consciousness - even to the enlightened state of Nirvana.  Members of Aum Shinrikyo believe that Shoko Asahara, the organization’s leader, is the only living individual to have reached enlightenment and live in this state.  He is the founder of the group and driving force behind Aum.  Aum’s origins as a yoga group are important to its organization, because the small circle of individuals devoted to Asahara transitioned to more administrative positions as membership in the group increased and “aided the management of the group” alongside Asahara (Daly).  Eventually these senior members were given roles as heads of ministries, twenty-two of which existed in Aum’s mock government based off of the Japanese government (Reader).  This meant that they had integral roles in dictating the directions of Aum’s activity, under the oversight of Asahara.  

Apart from its obvious basis in Buddhism, Aum Shinrikyo’s Hindu aspects are evident in their revering of Shiva - the Hindu god of destruction.  Aum combines the destructive nature of Shiva with the end of time concept of Armageddon that is observed as an unusual combination of Eastern and Western belief systems: salvation from being destroyed by Armageddon was to come to Aum members that had devoted their lives to the organization and its teachings, or “they were assured a special status in their reincarnated state” for their salvation (Global).    

Individuals involved in the Aum Shinrikyo organization fall into one of two categories.  They are either lay practitioners or samana; the first are people that “observe basic Buddhist precepts and live with their families,” while the latter lead lives similar to that of monks, exercising self-denial and abstaining from many of life’s luxuries in order to assist their  quest to achieve the highest possible levels of enlightenment (JREF).  These monastic senior devotees were able to move up in the ranks by paying large fees to take part in trainings.  About one tenth of Aum members in Japan fit this monastic description, with 10,000 active members over all and around 1,100 members that would be classified as “renunciates - because they renounced their previous life and dedicated themselves to Asahara’s service” (Daly).