Part 3: Kosen-rufu and World Peace
Chapter 26: Leaders Who Guide Others to Happiness [26.5]

President Ikeda stresses that the organization’s development and growth depends primarily on leaders carrying out their human revolution and expanding their life state.

As kosen-rufu progresses, the organization will also grow larger. The question is whether leaders can keep pace with the increasing scale and scope of the organization.

If they don’t continue to grow in tandem with its development, they will no longer be able to successfully steer the organization in a way that allows it to fulfill its true purpose—that is, as a means to help people attain happiness. Instead, the organization will succumb to the negative tendency of regarding its members as mere cogs in its machinery, as no more than a means to an end. We could say it comes down to a competition between humanity and the inclination to run things through bureaucratic structure and authority, to a tug-of-war between the inner spirit and outward form.

What is the key issue here? It is for leaders who take on responsibility for the organization’s development to strive continuously to expand their state of life. In a sense, an organization will not develop beyond what its leaders’ capacities allow.

The only way to improve an organization is for its leaders to study diligently, work hard, do their human revolution, and expand their state of life. They need to start by forming the causes within their own lives that lead to the growth and development of a humane organization, always returning to this fundamental principle of faith. This is a way of life that accords with the spirit of Nichiren Daishonin’s Buddhism of true cause.

In every struggle for kosen-rufu, I actively took the lead and, as a result, expanded my state of life. I opened the stage for our movement so that everyone could advance with assurance and peace of mind. That’s why I have constantly urged you, our youthful leaders and successors, to thoroughly train and develop yourselves.

What is the way to expand your state of life as leaders? Simply put, in addition, of course, to deepening your own faith in the Mystic Law, it lies in taking personal initiative to serve your fellow members who are striving earnestly for kosen-rufu. It is respecting and supporting them with a genuinely sincere and humble spirit, and directing your wisdom and efforts toward their happiness.

From a speech at a young men’s Gajokai Academy meeting, Shizuoka, August 2, 1990.