"Just thinking that you are a Buddha who is free from all defilements because you have Buddha nature does not make the disturbing emotions go away. You have to realize emptiness. Without realizing emptiness, you cannot eradicate the king of delusions, ignorance.

Without eradicating that, you cannot eliminate the other delusions. You have to follow the whole procedure with all of the steps of the path to liberation or enlightenment. The essence of that path is the wisdom realizing emptiness because that is what ceases all delusions. If somebody does not understand emptiness but just concentrates on the conventional nature of the mind – the clear and cognitive nature of mind – he or she cannot attain liberation.

Similarly, just believing ''I'm Buddha'' without realizing emptiness does not bring liberation. If someone were a Buddha just because he thought, ''I'm a Buddha," that would make him a Buddha without realizations, an ignorant Buddha. Why? Because just thinking "I'm Buddha'' does not make delusions go away. You have to realize emptiness and go through the gradual process of developing that realization over the five paths."

Lama Zopa Rinpoche