user-1: The path of Dhamma is a journey towards the end of all suffering through the attainment of Nibbana. The Buddha set out to find the cure for human suffering, but there are so many people around us today, suffering in so many ways. Most of the people end up still finding a cure in the material world. There are very few people who are suffering might end up starting to think about life itself as suffering for e.g. philosophers like Schopenhauer. But even these intellectuals don't seem to have come to the conclusion of the need to transcend the mind. As against there are those might not be in a lot of suffering but in an, existential crisis seem to arrive at the path of Dhamma.
I am asking, is existential-crisis a pre-requisite and more fundamental human need than wanting to end suffering to start the journey towards Nibbana? 

user471: In Therigatha 6.1 (quoted below), the nun Bhikkhuni Patacara had an existential crisis over her son's untimely death. Recalling the Buddha's words, she had a deep realization, perhaps even enlightenment, that led her to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha.

[Patacara recalls the Buddha's words:]
  "You don't know the path
  of his coming or going,
  that being who has come from where?
  — the one you lament as 'my son.'
  But when you know the path
  of his coming or going,
  you don't grieve after him,
  for that is the nature of beings.
Unasked,
  he came from there.
  Without permission,
  he went from here
  — coming from where?
  having stayed a few days.
  And coming one way from here,
  he goes yet another from there.
  Dying in the human form,
  he will go wandering on.
  As he came, so he has gone
  — so what is there to lament?"
Pulling out
  — completely out
  — the arrow so hard to see,
  embedded in my heart,
  he expelled from me
  — overcome with grief
  — the grief over my son.
Today — with arrow removed,
  without hunger, entirely Unbound
  — to the Buddha, Dhamma, & Sangha I go,
  for refuge to the Sage.


user14923: Siddhartha led a privileged life and was an intelligent and curious person. The story of he and his attendent seeing the three marks of living- illness, old age and death created an existential crisis for him. The crisis raised the haunting question of what is the meaning of life? Is it only to become ill, old and die? This created anxiety, a malaise, dysphoria or Suffering that he could not shake or eventually ignore. This is the Suffering the Buddha later talks about as having transcended and ended. This was the strong reason why he left his family to find the answer to the existential question of the meaning to life. Also, he wanted to find the answer so his loved ones would not suffer from the doubt and insecurity of a meaningless life of only living for sense pleasure gratification. He sought out leading gurus but eventually they did not have the answer. It was only until his Awakening to the non-duality of existence that he understood that this suffering or insecurity about the meaning of life was a cognitive event and once he transcended this he no longer was worried since the question is born out of the ignorance of dualism. He became the Buddha.

user700: There are two types of existential crisis. One makes a person extremely corrupted, harmful to themselves and others. The second type of existential crisis leads a person to a spiritual opening. The second type of existential crisis is a very rare event in the human world, that's why there are very few people in the world who are interested to walk in the path of the dhamma.
In the modern world I think that the most people experiences existantial crisis, that's why when you look to the news you'll see many horrible things are happening daily all around the world. The wrong beliefs, ideas and modern age's advanced technology's effect on the human mind leads people to be "living deads". But the existantial crisis of the most of the humans don't lead them to the dhamma because most people are clinging to collective culture, wrong ideas and beliefs. So they continue the normal way of living with clinging to collective culture, wrong beliefs and ideas even more. People try to suppress their sufferings with using different kinds of tools, but this suppressing only makes them worse.
The important thing is to be disloyal to the collective culture, wrong beliefs and ideas in order to the start on the path of dhamma. You experience existantial crisis or not doesn't matter, but understanding the suffering aspect of the collective culture, society, beliefs, ideas and becoming at least a little bit detached from them is absolutely necessary in order to start the path. 
For the ordinary people existantial crisis makes their heart more stiff, makes them more worldling. In the spiritual path the person also have these "existantial crisis" time to time but these experiences makes the person's heart open more to the nature of reality. As a result, the person gradually disidentifes from the collective humanity's insanity and eventually enters to the stream of enlightenment and after the purification and disidentification reaches to a point these existantial crisis periods ends and what remains is only very deep peace, happiness, contentment. So existantial crisis actually helps the spiritual people to walk in the direction of non-self and freedom from suffering. Because mindfulness of suffering eventually leads to complete freedom from suffering. As Thich Nhat Hanh said "Suffering and happiness is one". But for the beginners being "disloyal" to the collective culture, society, beliefs and ideas is the main necessity for starting to the path of the dhamma. 

user17319: Yes, dukkha is the pre-requisite for Saddha, samvega, for pasada. No fear, no dhukka perceived, the path for escape the truths in the world is neither desired nor seen.

user8157: AN 3.38 describes Gotama having an existential crisis.

Even though I was endowed with such fortune, such total refinement, the thought occurred to me: 'When an untaught, run-of-the-mill person,
  himself subject to death, not beyond death, sees another who is dead,
  he is horrified, humiliated, & disgusted, oblivious to himself that he
  too is subject to death, not beyond death. And if I — who am subject
  to death, not beyond death — were to be horrified, humiliated, &
  disgusted on seeing another person who is dead, that would not be
  fitting for me.' As I noticed this, the living person's intoxication
  with life entirely dropped away.

Also, the traditional biography of Sariputta & Mogallana shows them having an existential crisis:  

Now at Rajagaha there was an annual event called the Hilltop Festival. Seats were arranged for both youths and they sat together to
  witness the celebrations. When there was occasion for laughter, they
  laughed; when the spectacles were exciting, they became excited; and
  they paid their fees for the extra shows. In this manner they enjoyed
  the festival for a second day; but on the third day their
  understanding was awakened and they could no longer laugh or get
  excited, nor did they feel inclined to pay for extra shows as they had
  done on the first days. Each of them had the same thought: "What is
  there to look at here? Before these people have reached a hundred
  years they will all have come to death. What we ought to do is to seek
  for a teaching of deliverance."
It was with such thoughts in mind that they took their seats at the festival. Then Kolita said to Upatissa: "How is this, my dear
  Upatissa? You are not as happy and joyous as you were on the other
  days. You seem now to be in a discontented mood, What is on your
  mind?"
"My dear Kolita, to look at these things here is of no benefit at all. it is utterly worthless! I ought to seek a teaching of
  deliverance for myself. That, my Kolita, is what I was thinking,
  seated here. But you, Kolita, seem to be discontented, too."
And Kolita replied: "Just as you have said, I also feel." When he knew that his friend had the same inclinations, Upatissa said: "That
  was a good thought of ours. But for those who seek a teaching of
  deliverance there is only one thing to do: to leave home and become
  ascetics. But under whom shall we live the ascetic life?


-1: <p>The path of Dhamma is a journey towards the end of all suffering through the attainment of Nibbana. The Buddha set out to find the cure for human suffering, but there are so many people around us today, suffering in so many ways. Most of the people end up still finding a cure in the material world. There are very few people who are suffering might end up starting to think about life itself as suffering for e.g. philosophers like Schopenhauer. But even these intellectuals don't seem to have come to the conclusion of the need to transcend the mind. As against there are those might not be in a lot of suffering but in an, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Existential_crisis" rel="nofollow noreferrer">existential crisis</a> seem to arrive at the path of Dhamma.</p>

<p>I am asking, is existential-crisis a pre-requisite and more fundamental human need than wanting to end suffering to start the journey towards Nibbana? </p>
 471: <p>In <a href="https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/thig/thig.06.01.than.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Therigatha 6.1</a> (quoted below), the nun Bhikkhuni Patacara had an existential crisis over her son's untimely death. Recalling the Buddha's words, she had a deep realization, perhaps even enlightenment, that led her to take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><em>[Patacara recalls the Buddha's words:]</em><br>
  "You don't know the path<br>
  of his coming or going,<br>
  that being who has come from where?<br>
  — the one you lament as 'my son.'<br>
  But when you know the path<br>
  of his coming or going,<br>
  you don't grieve after him,<br>
  for that is the nature of beings.</p>
  
  <p>Unasked,<br>
  he came from there.<br>
  Without permission,<br>
  he went from here<br>
  — coming from where?<br>
  having stayed a few days.<br>
  And coming one way from here,<br>
  he goes yet another from there.<br>
  Dying in the human form,<br>
  he will go wandering on.<br>
  As he came, so he has gone<br>
  — so what is there to lament?"</p>
  
  <p>Pulling out<br>
  — completely out<br>
  — the arrow so hard to see,<br>
  embedded in my heart,<br>
  he expelled from me<br>
  — overcome with grief<br>
  — the grief over my son.</p>
  
  <p>Today — with arrow removed,<br>
  without hunger, entirely Unbound<br>
  — to the Buddha, Dhamma, &amp; Sangha I go,<br>
  for refuge to the Sage.</p>
</blockquote>
 14923: <p>Siddhartha led a privileged life and was an intelligent and curious person. The story of he and his attendent seeing the three marks of living- illness, old age and death created an existential crisis for him. The crisis raised the haunting question of what is the meaning of life? Is it only to become ill, old and die? This created anxiety, a malaise, dysphoria or Suffering that he could not shake or eventually ignore. This is the Suffering the Buddha later talks about as having transcended and ended. This was the strong reason why he left his family to find the answer to the existential question of the meaning to life. Also, he wanted to find the answer so his loved ones would not suffer from the doubt and insecurity of a meaningless life of only living for sense pleasure gratification. He sought out leading gurus but eventually they did not have the answer. It was only until his Awakening to the non-duality of existence that he understood that this suffering or insecurity about the meaning of life was a cognitive event and once he transcended this he no longer was worried since the question is born out of the ignorance of dualism. He became the Buddha.</p>
 700: <p>There are two types of existential crisis. One makes a person extremely corrupted, harmful to themselves and others. The second type of existential crisis leads a person to a spiritual opening. The second type of existential crisis is a very rare event in the human world, that's why there are very few people in the world who are interested to walk in the path of the dhamma.</p>

<p>In the modern world I think that the most people experiences existantial crisis, that's why when you look to the news you'll see many horrible things are happening daily all around the world. The wrong beliefs, ideas and modern age's advanced technology's effect on the human mind leads people to be "living deads". But the existantial crisis of the most of the humans don't lead them to the dhamma because most people are clinging to collective culture, wrong ideas and beliefs. So they continue the normal way of living with clinging to collective culture, wrong beliefs and ideas even more. People try to suppress their sufferings with using different kinds of tools, but this suppressing only makes them worse.</p>

<p>The important thing is to be disloyal to the collective culture, wrong beliefs and ideas in order to the start on the path of dhamma. You experience existantial crisis or not doesn't matter, but understanding the suffering aspect of the collective culture, society, beliefs, ideas and becoming at least a little bit detached from them is absolutely necessary in order to start the path. </p>

<p>For the ordinary people existantial crisis makes their heart more stiff, makes them more worldling. In the spiritual path the person also have these "existantial crisis" time to time but these experiences makes the person's heart open more to the nature of reality. As a result, the person gradually disidentifes from the collective humanity's insanity and eventually enters to the stream of enlightenment and after the purification and disidentification reaches to a point these existantial crisis periods ends and what remains is only very deep peace, happiness, contentment. So existantial crisis actually helps the spiritual people to walk in the direction of non-self and freedom from suffering. Because mindfulness of suffering eventually leads to complete freedom from suffering. As Thich Nhat Hanh said "Suffering and happiness is one". But for the beginners being "disloyal" to the collective culture, society, beliefs and ideas is the main necessity for starting to the path of the dhamma. </p>
 17319: <p>Yes, dukkha is the pre-requisite for Saddha, samvega, for pasada. No fear, no dhukka perceived, the path for escape the truths in the world is neither desired nor seen.</p>
 8157: <p><a href="https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an03/an03.038.than.html" rel="noreferrer">AN 3.38</a> describes Gotama having an existential crisis.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p><em>Even though I was endowed with such fortune, such total refinement, the thought occurred to me: 'When an untaught, run-of-the-mill person,
  himself subject to death, not beyond death, sees another who is dead,
  he is horrified, humiliated, &amp; disgusted, oblivious to himself that he
  too is subject to death, not beyond death. And if I — who am subject
  to death, not beyond death — were to be horrified, humiliated, &amp;
  disgusted on seeing another person who is dead, that would not be
  fitting for me.' As I noticed this, the living person's intoxication
  with life entirely dropped away.</em></p>
</blockquote>

<p>Also, the traditional <a href="https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nyanaponika/wheel090.html#i" rel="noreferrer">biography</a> of Sariputta &amp; Mogallana shows them having an existential crisis:  </p>

<blockquote>
  <p><em>Now at Rajagaha there was an annual event called the Hilltop Festival. Seats were arranged for both youths and they sat together to
  witness the celebrations. When there was occasion for laughter, they
  laughed; when the spectacles were exciting, they became excited; and
  they paid their fees for the extra shows. In this manner they enjoyed
  the festival for a second day; but on the third day their
  understanding was awakened and they could no longer laugh or get
  excited, nor did they feel inclined to pay for extra shows as they had
  done on the first days. Each of them had the same thought: "What is
  there to look at here? Before these people have reached a hundred
  years they will all have come to death. What we ought to do is to seek
  for a teaching of deliverance."</em></p>
  
  <p><em>It was with such thoughts in mind that they took their seats at the festival. Then Kolita said to Upatissa: "How is this, my dear
  Upatissa? You are not as happy and joyous as you were on the other
  days. You seem now to be in a discontented mood, What is on your
  mind?"</em></p>
  
  <p><em>"My dear Kolita, to look at these things here is of no benefit at all. it is utterly worthless! I ought to seek a teaching of
  deliverance for myself. That, my Kolita, is what I was thinking,
  seated here. But you, Kolita, seem to be discontented, too."</em></p>
  
  <p><em>And Kolita replied: "Just as you have said, I also feel." When he knew that his friend had the same inclinations, Upatissa said: "That
  was a good thought of ours. But for those who seek a teaching of
  deliverance there is only one thing to do: to leave home and become
  ascetics. But under whom shall we live the ascetic life?</em></p>
</blockquote>
