The Difference Between Ultimate Liberation and Non-Ultimate Liberation

The liberating wisdom that frees one from the entanglements of birth and death within the three realms is the same. However, the Buddha's liberation is ultimate: He has ended not only segmented birth-and-death but also transformational birth-and-death, with not a trace of ignorance binding His mind; therefore His liberation is ultimate. The liberation of an arhat is not yet ultimate, for there is still ignorance, and transformational birth-and-death has not yet been ended. An arhat liberated by wisdom (paññāvimutti) must still wait until worldly conditions come to an end before he can leave the three realms and be liberated from birth and death, whereas an arhat liberated in both ways (cetovimutti and paññāvimutti) need not wait for the right time and can leave the three realms and be liberated from birth and death at any moment.