I don't claim to be an expert on Buddhism, but I'm dealing with some pretty basic Buddhist contentions here. For Buddhists, there's no universe as we conceive of it with our essentializing models. But Buddhists often resort to a double truth doctrine, taking these simplifying conceptions as having pragmatic value (as they certainly have in science).

The middle way is to avoid the extremes of asceticism and hedonism, but the reason for avoiding them is to end your suffering. And the point of being compassionate to others is to help end other people's suffering or to demonstrate that you've ended yours (by pacifying your ego). So there's an underlying humanist conviction in Buddhism that I discuss here:

https://medium.com/gods-funeral/the-hypocrisies-of-early-buddhists-and-secular-humanists-eacc8d72f0df?sk=f5b04b4297e97433056e0e4551f2a952