We don't have life all figured out in modern society either. Especially when it comes to dying (without it just being the end of a period of despair and depress

We don't have life all figured out in modern society either. Especially when it comes to dying (without it just being the end of a period of despair and depression), but also I'd say dealing with risk and difficulty generally. Eastern cultures didn't really have religions universally promising to provide all the answers/solutions like western culture had, so they developed very interesting alternative ways of addressing these struggles in life.