This talk will chart changes in the Buddhist notion of liberation, from the Buddha’s third Noble Truth of the personal elimination of suffering (duḥkha) and freedom from the karma-driven wheel of saṃsāra, to the Great Vehicle’s (Mahāyāna) emphasis on the power of enlightened deities to help all beings achieve salvation. It will also address whether nirvāṇa is “out there” and Tibetan debates over gradual and sudden modes of attaining enlightenment within saṃsāra.