Like Dogen, Nichiren taught that Buddhahood is attained in the moment of practice: In the act of chanting Namu-myōhō-renge-kyō, one “simultaneously makes the cause and receives the effect of Buddhahood.” However, since one tends to revert to his ordinary deluded state when not actually engaged in practice, Nichiren also stressed the importance of strengthening the experience of enlightenment by continuing to chant Namu-myōhō-renge-kyō throughout one’s life “If you have faith in this truth (that your own mind is the Dharma) and chant Myōhō-renge-kyō, you are certain to attain Buddhahood in this lifetime,” he wrote. In his doctrine, Buddhahood thus has the elements of both instantaneous enlightenment and enlightenment-as-process. The aspect of process, however, he viewed not as linear progress toward an external goal, but as the uncovering, so to speak, of one’s already inherent Buddha nature, analogous to the way in which one brings out a mirror’s luster by repeated polishing.