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Continuing from this post http://thetaobums.com/topic/32901-fuck-karma/?p=506332 I wanted to delve further into why the Buddha emphasized dukkha so much. Everyone knows this is a part of life, but why did Buddha make this obvious fact of life the corner stone of his teachings on the 4 noble truths; even making it a Dharma seal along with impermanence/anicca and no-self/anatta? Many people tend to dismiss this as a pessimistic over-emphasis on temporary aspects of experience which are restricted to the overt and gross negative emotions, thoughts, actions, etc., but what was Buddha really getting at when he declared the first noble truth as "Now this, monks, is the noble truth of stress:[1] Birth is stressful, aging is stressful, death is stressful; sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair are stressful; association with the unbeloved is stressful, separation from the loved is stressful, not getting what is wanted is stressful. In short, the five clinging-aggregates are stressful." - http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn56/sn56.011.than.html For this, we should start with understanding how the Buddha defined ignorance as a conditioning factor within the overall model of the 12 nidanas and the 5 skandhas.