When the Buddha taught the Dharma, he knew it was impossible for all people to become monks and nuns. Leaving home helps to cut off one's desires. This is possible for only a small minority of practitioners. For this reason, the Buddha had separate teachings and prescriptions for lay people and Sangha members.

There are many differences between lay practice and left-home practice. Lay people are more connected to family, career, possessions and personal affairs. Monks and nuns have taken vows to abandon these things. Ideally, they should have no belongings, including their own bodies.

The strongest attachments of ordinary people are to other people. A young girl is most attached to her parents. Later, her boyfriend or husband becomes the most important person. When she has children, they become the most important. In time, her children will leave to start their own families. Even so, she will continue to have deep feelings for them and their children. An ordinary person's life is filled with attachments which derive from relationships.

It is difficult to have all these attachments and still devote oneself wholeheartedly to practice. Sex may not even be part of it, but if it is, it too becomes an extremely sticky attachment. Sexual activity makes it difficult to cultivate samadhi.

Love and marriage can become a source of all kinds of vexations, but they are not necessarily obstructions to being a good practitioner. However, love and marriage would make it difficult to become a good master, although it would not be impossible. The person may be a good teacher, but it may be difficult to cultivate a deep, pure wisdom.