The Impact of Buddhism on Swami Vivekananda's Worldview

Vivekananda (1863-1902), a major personality of 19th century Bengal, regarded as a cyclonic monk and pioneer thinker who went upto USA to preach universal humanism in the parliament of religion in 1893 at Chicago. He presented Buddha to western audience as shining example of Bengal's spiritual ideal. This article is about how Vivekananda considered Buddha as the perfect being. He said, As a character, Buddha is the greatest the world has ever seen. He had a vision of Lord Buddha when he was young. Following the Sangha (Association) formed by Buddha, Vivekananda founded the Ramakrishna Mission in 1897, which working immensely for the cause of the humanity without any discrimination between caste, creed, gender and religion. Vivekananda mentioned in many places that Buddha was his Ishta Devata. Vivekananda recalled that he (Buddha) was the only man who was ever ready to give up his life for animals to stop a sacrifice. It proves that Buddhism had a major influence on his life. So this paper analyzes how Vivekananda felt a deep emotional and kinship with Buddha.