Editing Soka Gakkai (section)

===1969: Crisis and transformation===
In response to criticism, Ikeda made major shifts to the Gakkai's message.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Seager|first1=Richard Hughes|title=Encountering the Dharma: Daisaku Ikeda, Soka Gakkai, and the globalization of Buddhist humanism|date=2006|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-24577-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encounteringdhar0000seag/page/97 97–8]|quote=Ikeda took [the free speech issue] seriously and made it the starting point for a process of critical self-examination that resulted in his once again re-creating the Gakkai.&nbsp;... The free speech issue gave him a platform from which to make shifts in emphasis of such magnitude that some members recall that it took them a year or more to grasp his intent fully.|url=https://archive.org/details/encounteringdhar0000seag}}</ref> He committed the organization to the rights of free speech and freedom of religion, admitting it had been intolerant and overly sensitive in the past.

In the 1970s Ikeda helped transition the Soka Gakkai from an internally focused organization centered on its own membership growth to one adopting a focus on a motto of "Peace, Culture, and Education". On October 12, 1972, at the official opening of the [[Shohondo]] at Taiseki-ji Ikeda announced the start of the Soka Gakkai's "Phase Two" which would shift direction from aggressive expansion to a movement for international peace through friendship and exchange.<ref name="Profile: Soka Gakkai">{{cite web|title=Profile: Soka Gakkai|url=http://www.wrs.vcu.edu/profiles/SokaGakkai.htm|website=THE WORLD RELIGIONS AND SPIRITUALITY PROJECT (WRSP)|publisher=Virginia Commonwealth University|quote=On October 12, 1972, during ceremonies marking the opening of the completed Shōhondō at Taisekiji, Ikeda delivered a speech announcing the start of Sōka Gakkai's "Phase Two", describing a turn away from aggressive expansion toward envisioning the Gakkai as an international movement promoting peace through friendship and cultural exchange.}}</ref>