Limitations of meditation/mindfulness without Vinaya Some teachers say that the meditation practice without the Vinaya is very limited on its achievments. That is equivalent of saying that lay meditators will have very limited results, even if he/she keeps the 5 precepts.

Can anyone explain what is the real difference? What gets limited by not following Vinaya?

PS: The teacher was Ajahn Chah, he was talking about retreat, even in retreat the lay person wont get so far because of Vinaya, there is only so much a lay men can develop in meditation (even in a retreat).
The basis of Vinaya is morality and taming the senses
Lack or morality (Sila / Vinaya) or hedonistic practices is based on unwholesome thoughts
Unwholesome thoughts result in unpleasantness (due to -ve fabrications and karmic formations) which is detrimental to meditation (Piti and Passadhi being an aid to meditation)
This also lead to verbal fabrication as most unwholesome thoughts lead to through proliferation which makes the mind harder to focus and also creating more fabrication.


Morality (Sila / Vinaya) is the basis of developing Samaddhi which helps developing Panna. So strong morality is needed.