Hīnayāna and mahāyāna characterize groups of Buddhist paths in relation to two kinds of liberation: “a liberation which is the simple extinction of suffering and its sources, and the supreme liberation which is none other than Buddhahood. The former is an extinction of all obstacles that are sources of afflictions […] The latter liberation is the supreme stage, the absolute extinction of both afflictions and obstacles to universal knowledge”. (This formulation is that of the Dalai Lama, Comme la lumière avec la flamme, éditions du Rocher, 1997, p. 29).