Vivekananda on Buddha, Buddhism, and Vedanta

This episode provided texts offer an extensive analysis of Swami Vivekananda's complex relationship with Gautama Buddha and Buddhism, highlighting his profound admiration tempered by philosophical critiques. Vivekananda revered Buddha as "the one absolutely sane man" and a paramount historical figure known for his rationality, compassion, and emphasis on ethical living, viewing him as a "realization" rather than just a person. However, he maintained that Buddhism was a "rebel child" or fulfillment of Hinduism, arguing that Buddha built upon the philosophical foundations of the Vedas and that the two faiths are deeply interconnected, needing each other's strengths—the "heart of Buddha and the intellect of Sankaracharya." Vivekananda critiqued later, corrupted forms of Buddhism, specifically their monastic rigidity, nihilistic tendencies regarding the soul, and the negative consequences of strict ahimsa (non-violence) on India’s strength, which he sought to correct by synthesizing Buddhist ethics with the metaphysical depth of Vedantic thought.