The young Ikeda fought in Kamata with such a spirit,  “If I didn’t meet and speak with them personally, how could I expect them to trust me? If I didn’t personally engage in the effort to share Buddhism with others, how could I expect them to strive alongside me?”​

In that original February Campaign of Kamata Chapter, we made a fresh breakthrough toward the goal of realising a membership of 750,000 households. It was not a top-down organisational campaign.​

I was just 24 years old [when I was appointed chapter adviser]. I didn’t know most of the men’s division and women’s division members in Kamata. If I didn’t meet and speak with them personally, how could I expect them to trust me? If I didn’t personally engage in the effort to share Buddhism with others, how could I expect them to strive alongside me?​

So I threw myself directly into their midst. I joined them in their earnest struggle to surmount their problems and change their karma. I met with each precious individual and urged them to awaken to their noble mission and savor the joy of dedicating themselves to the vow to undertake their human revolution and realise kosen-rufu. Through these one-on-one encounters, I discovered new capable individuals and continued to encourage them. As a result, an unprecedented number of members began sharing the Daishonin’s Buddhism with others, initiating dialogue wherever they went.​

In that one-month period, I am sure the Kamata members held thousands of dialogues. The fresh energy of new capable individuals led to countless fresh rounds of Buddhist dialogue. Through everyone bringing forth their underlying strength as Bodhisattvas of the Earth, barriers crumbled and the door to a new phase in our history was opened.