Buddhism is another philosophy which shares similarities with the Essenz. It is possible to see where Buddhism came from, what its source was and how that source inspired its development.
Like the Essenz, Buddhism recognises that life within ‘the Matrix’ is about ‘suffering’. By suffering Buddhism means a lack of completion or wholeness. A life lived at its most basal level, such as we experience in modern society, with uncontrolled will and non-stop thoughts, ensures that we experience suffering throughout our lives. Suffering for the ‘right’ to be an individual, even if individuality is an illusion.
It was Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism, who recognised this illusionary existence and dedicated his life to spreading what he saw as the answer. Whether Buddha was a real person or not, is open to debate. His enlightenment under a tree shares similarities with other ‘god’ like figures in times past, such as Odin, and even Jesus from the Christian religion. (One could also argue that Isaac Newton’s enlightenment while taking a nap under an apple tree, rings like a god-like myth as well.)
The signifiance of the tree in many Eureka moments or instances of enlightenment, points to the role nature has always played as a reflection of and path back to our original being. A path that indigenous or nature-centric peoples based their existence upon. Trees were always revered as holy sites, where one could go and listen to the old ways (Celtic Druids for example). Today, the Chinese art of Qi Gong offers a health changing exercise that is based on ‘standing like a tree’. Stand still. Breathe. Do nothing. Grow strong. Feel the univese within you.
Maybe Siddhartha had also been a practitioner of Yoga or Qi Gong? He may have picked up some of his knowledge and wisdom on his wanderings and interactions with people.
No matter where Siddhartha got his knowledge from, nor who Siddhartha really was, he or she believed the world was embracing an illusion. The adherrents who saw him as an enlightened Boddhisattva, took his teachings and developed schools of thought and practice, which evolved into what is today’s Buddhism.
One of those teachings Siddhartha passed on was his understanding of man as a split entity - something that the Essenz also refers to - an entity with feet in two different worlds. He understood that what prevented people from seeing this split was the individual ego. By destroying the ego, insight beyond its world view was expanded and achieved. But this was only possible by going into the mind and experiencing our ‘big bang’ there.
Far from being rigid and dogmatic, which was true for the major religions of the time, Buddhism’s path was about making your own rules, with the highest priority being the unity of the body, mind and soul, and the raising of one’s consciousness. The closer one came to their unified self, the more they realised they didn’t need any rules to follow nature’s way. They had achieved understanding of the Essenz.