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Martin Luther King Jr., the champion of the American Civil Rights Movement who inherited Gandhi’s legacy of nonviolence, often said that any religion that overlooks the real-life sufferings of the people is a “spiritually moribund religion.” These convictions of Gandhi and King resonate deeply with us. No matter how lofty the ideals it espouses, a religion not committed to acting for the happiness of those who aresuffering and struggling is spiritually lifeless. From The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace, part 3, revised edition, p. 90

Daisaku Ikeda

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A young man once told Mr. Makiguchi that he thought it would be better to hold large-scale lectures rather than discussion meetings. “No, it wouldn’t,” Mr. Makiguchireplied without hesitation. “Dialogue is the only way to communicate with another about life’s problems. At a lecture, listeners inevitably feel uninvolved. Even the Daishonin’s treatise ‘On Establishing the Correct Teaching for the Peace of the Land’ was written in the form of a dialogue, you know.”
From The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace, part 3, revised edition, p. 132

Daisaku Ikeda

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Buddhism doesn’t exist apart from the reality of society or from people and their lives. No matter how valid the teachings of Buddhism may be, just loudly proclaiming that fact will not persuade people. If anything, that approach is quite likely to drive them away from the path of Buddhism, and that would be going against the intent of the Daishonin, who entrusted us with the mission of realizing kosen-rufu.
From The Wisdom for Creating Happiness and Peace, part 2, revised edition, pp. 98—99

Daisaku Ikeda