The Dalai Lama has been trying to disassociate his movement from Asahara ever since his visit to Tokyo last April, just after the Tokyo subway gassing. Relations between the two, while cordial, have been strained for some time. As early as the spring of 1990, Asahara had complained that the Tibetan representative in Tokyo was publicly accusing Aum of commercializing religion. Letters published in China Tibet magazine portray Asahara as variously pledging to do whatever he could to return Tibet to Tibetans and claiming that his infant son was the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. These ties have deep historical roots.
Most Japanese sects trace their origins to temples founded in China.
This includes the Lotus Buddhist sect in which the Japanese cultural and political movement Soka Gokkai is based. Soka Gokkai boasts some 15 million members worldwide. It may seen paradoxical that a secular Beijing government takes a positive stance towards East Asia's largest religion while at the same time relentlessly challenging the power of the Dalai Lama. Today, in a drive to reestablish China's centrality, Beijing is tapping into a growing Buddhist revival across Asia. Moreover, many of Japan's sects belong to a tradition deeply hostile to the Tibetan clergy, a stance rooted in the 13th century Mongol rule when Tibetan prelates suppressed Lotus sect temples in southern China.