| | Sorry for the late reply, I have been working a lot.
Why the emphasis on suffering?
I can think of a few reasons:
1) Suffering is motivating for practice: if people don't recognize or experience suffering, then they are unlikely to be into this stuff. 2) Suffering is a characteristic whose perception and investigation yields good things, if done well and properly. 3) Suffering shows us things about causality that are very useful. 4) Suffering can show up from practice and it is worth knowing this, as otherwise people get thrown, confused, sidetracked, blindsided, etc. Thus, knowing that certain stages can be markedly unpleasant (3rd ñana, 6th-10th ñanas particularly) can really help people stay on track and realize that this is expected and normal. 5) Pleasant stages can throw people, but not nearly as much or as badly, so that is why most focus on the hard stuff, as the easy, pleasant stuff is easy and pleasant, so is hardly worth mentioning a lot of the time, as it causes no difficulties or external motion for answers in the way suffering does.
Helpful?
Daniel |