Mahasukha concept is not treated as elaborately as it is in Vajrayana. Probably the most remarkable innovation that Vajrayana has made to the Mahayana lineage of thought is the conception of the Absolute as great Bliss (acintyamahasukha). Nowhere in Madhyamika is the Absolute characterised as sukha. In Yogacara, we find a brief reference to the nature of the Absolute as perfect bliss (sukha), which is the perfect quiescence of consciousness devoid of subject-object duality. For the Mahayanist, nirvana is supreme bliss in as much as it involves the extinction of the five skandhas, the basis of ego-centric personality and the cause of misery.

In early Buddhism the term `nibbana` was understood generally in the negative sense of `complete cessation of samsara` or `the blowing out of a Lamp`. However, attributing characteristics to nibbana was not absent altogether either. Pali literature attributed to it several qualities such as param (supreme), santa (tranquil), visuddha (pure) etc. Theri-gatha stated that eternal bliss can be attained through the attainment of nirvana. Milinda-panho, a Buddhist text, speaks of it as supreme bliss or paramasukha. Dhammapada declared, "etam jnatva yatha-bhutam nibbanam paramam sukham". In early Buddhism the conception of nibbana is not consistent. It is at times described negatively, (especially by the Sautrantika) and at other times spoken of positively. On the whole, however, a positive tendency seems to predominate over the negative one.

In the tradition of Mahayana Buddhism, the views of Madhyamika and Yogacara can be considered on the conception of nirvana. For the Madhyamika, nirvana is the complete cessation of all mental constructions, and no categorical descriptions can be ascribed to it. Nagarjuna would not speak of nirvana as bliss, since it would be another construction; and hence equally culpable as any other. Similarly, Saraha-pada, considered being one of the founders of Buddhist Vajrayana, warned in one of his Dohas that a positive conception of nirvana, Buddhist philosophy, is as wrong as a negative one, just as a chain whether made of iron or gold equally binds man.

Yogacara-vijnanavada conception of the Ultimate Reality is rather positive, and consequently, we have also a positive characterisation of nirvana. Nirvana is the realisation of the void-nature of both the cognising self as well as the external objects. Voidness (sunyata) is the annihilation of the grahya-grahaka duality. The pure consciousness devoid of this duality is the dharmakaya. There is no categorical assertion that the nature of the dharmakaya is bliss; but in the Vijnaptimatrata-siddhi the nature of pure consciousness is stated to be, the immutable element which is beyond the reach of all mentation; it is all good, permanent, perfect bliss, - it is liberation - the substance itself. Though the concept of nirvana as intense bliss is foreshadowed in early Buddhism and later in Mahayana, it gained prominence only in Vajrayana and Sahajayana whose followers went to the extent of identifying nirvana with mahasukha.

In Vajrayana, the ultimate reality is of the nature of great bliss. Hevajra Tantra states, "Bliss is black, yellow, red, white, green, blue and all things moving and fixed. Bliss is the Wisdom, the Means, the erotic union, existence, and non-existence. Vajrasattva is known as Bliss." In its joys, viz., Ordinary Joy (ananda), Refined Joy (paramananda), Joy of Cessation (viramananda) and Innate Joy (sahajananda). The first three are of the phenomenal realm as they are characterised by the misconceptions of bondage and release. The last, the Innate Joy, is identified as great bliss (mahasukha). Though joy is four-fold, the Innate is considered to be one, and in it there is neither passion (i.e., Refined Joy), nor the passionless (Joy of Cessation), nor the awareness of the middle state (Ordinary Joy). Muktavali states that the Real is the non-dual voidness of all dharma, the perception of which is the perception of sunyata, or enlightenment, and it is of the nature of Great Bliss.

Bliss is no-dual as nothing is emanated (na kincid bhavyam asti), and mind too does not exist in it (cittam tad api nasti). In Great Bliss, differentiated notions are nonexistent (nanarthasyabhavat) Yogaratnamala states that it is both void and non-void because of the nature of the one flavour of the union of Wisdom and Means, which are the non-dual nature of voidness and compassion; and it is indicated by the name Heruka.

Hevajra Tantra declares the non-dual and undifferentiated nature of bliss:
`In the supreme delight there is neither the emanated nor the emanator. There is no form and neither there objects nor is there the perceiver. There is no flesh, no blood, no excrement, no urine, no sickness, no delusion, no purification, no passion, no wrath, no delusion, no envy, no malignity, no pride, no visible object, no emanated object, no emanator, no friend, and no enemy. The Innate is calm and undifferentiated.`

Bliss is incommunicable (vagvikalpavisayatitatvad iti bhavah). Since bliss is beyond words (vaggocaratitam) it can only be intuitively experienced by the practitioner himself. Bliss is experienced in the body because the experience of bliss requires the presence of form and other qualities. It is mentioned that great knowledge (bliss), which is free of all illusory conceptions and all pervading, is located in the body. Although abiding in the body, it does not originate in the body.

Bliss, the Ultimate Reality, may be viewed from two points of view, namely the absolute and the relative (vivrtisamvrtibhedatah). The absolute enlightened consciousness is of the nature of bliss, and the relative enlightened consciousness is of the nature of semen. Yogaratnamala states, "The absolute Innate Bliss is the cause of the relative bliss, the relative bliss being a limited aspect of the absolute Innate Bliss. Therefore confidence is attained by means of the relative bliss which is a limited aspect, similar in nature to the primary cause, the absolute Innate Bliss."

The text clearly states that the relative bliss (erotic pleasure) is not the real bliss since the former arises from the five great elements. The function of the relative bliss is likened to that of a lamp, which only reveals and illumines other things (andhakara pradipavat). The worldly Innate Bliss is the very means, which makes the achievement of the goal (sahajananda) possible.

The Vajrayanists emphasised the element of Great Bliss in the Mahayanic conception of the Absolute. Madhyamika had declared that the nature of reality is void (sunya); Yogacara stressed that it is consciousness. The Mantramahayana tradition described it to be of the nature of Great Bliss. Mahasukha is the essential nature of all things. This is the secret instruction of the bodhisattvas regarding the nature of things. Mahasukha is the Absolute, the Ultimate Principle of all things, and there is no principle greater than that. Vajrasattva who embodies the highest principle is known as Bliss. Yogacara asserted that non-dual consciousness is the Absolute, but Vajrayana goes further to state that this consciousness is of the nature of mahasukha. Bliss is non-dual and undifferentiated (nanarthasyabhavat) and hence it is characterised as space. Mahasukha is realised through the process of Completion.