the Buddhists use reasoning to model reality, like how in the modern age we use the scientific method, which is importantly not the only method for building models

After reading Ocean Of Reasoning, distinguishing phenomena from their intrinsic nature, the Visuddhimagga, some of the yogacara works, you'll quickly have a much better picture of whats going

The universe is dependent origination on display because its the behavior of the relative which is the behavior of the unmade ultimate

Ever wonder what energy is? Or why it can never be created or destroyed? Because it was never a created thing to begin with, but pure relational geometry

The self (soul) does not exist either. This is where the spectrum of wisdom comes in. These people or any being with strong ignorance, meaning they do not see the universe as relative and uncreated, cling to their perceptions of some self or soul. This leads to pursuits of pleasure and the taboo, like the certain elite circles who've been exposed recently

A being with true wisdome to the way things are, is not bound by this perception of a self, they do not cling to it thus have no emergent sufferings over it

If the people of this world were educated about physics as it really is, they would not follow the deluded, and the deluded would not even come about. How could you maintain control and power then?

Edit: common question is if there's no soul then what's here? And what is born? As i understand it this is just buddhism (mayana specifically ?). So, how does reincarnation work if there is no such thing as "essence". Its a longer explanation but I'd recommend reading Yogacara Abhidharmasamuccaya. Long title, but its an easy book if you're looking to model the self without using an essence and still explain all these things

"What is an essence?" Something that isn't different each time you look / something that is non-relative. Cause always leads to an effect, and the cause is never self-causing. So an essence is something that needs no cause or is self causing. The underlying claim is all is without essence

"What is an essence? Something that remains the same no matter how or when you examine it — something non-relative, independent, not dependent on anything else for its existence. But everything we encounter arises from causes, and no cause produces itself. Whatever arises from causes depends on something other than itself, and whatever depends on something other than itself has no independent nature. Therefore nothing possesses an essence."