Hi Rhys
Having been spent a good amount time around a Thai monastery on and off for years I would have to agree with you about this stereotype. Of course, I don’t believe there is any truth to it since I’ve seen laypeople with a lot sincerity who seem to grasp Dhamma concepts intuitively without being familiar with a lot of Pali terminology, suttas, Vinaya rules, etc. as well as laypeople and monks who have encyclopedic knowledge of such things and yet don’t seem to “get it”.
I was ordained as a novice for a while and I can attest that the monastic life definitely accelerated my understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. It’s my personal belief that the Buddha set up the monastic form to FORCE his disciples to see the world form a different perspective; the correct perspective or Samma Ditthi. When you undertake the 10 precepts and are forced to depend on other people to take care of you then you start to think much more about the consequences of every little action you may or may not do. As a result, the Three Characteristics (especially Anatta) start to become more clear. One of the problems with the layperson’s life is that it allows us to deceive ourselves into believing that we can be self sufficient; it “covers up” the Dhamma, so to speak. So it’s not that a layperson can’t attain a magga phala, only that it’s more difficult to do given the nature of that mode of living. Ultimately, the only thing that matters is a person’s mind and wisdom therein. Since that varies from person to person I don’t think it’s possible to make any kind of predictions as far as Path Attainment is concerned; some people may have accumulated a lot of merit and paramita from previous lives and will make smooth and consistent progress whereas others may have the good fortune to ordain but will struggle with sense desires or lack of an ability to develop insight.
I don’t think even most lay Buddhists understand what is at stake when it comes to escaping sansara; they don’t have a clear grasp of the larger picture that the Buddha was trying to explain to so they are unaware of the potential dangers that come with simply existing. They take their good birth as a given. And without being given a clear explanation of the Buddha’s Dhamma, what reason would there be for them to think otherwise? I used to be in the same boat before I came across Lal’s website; sometimes I would read anecdotes about certain Ajaans ripping into their disciples for being half-hearted or doubting urgency of their situation and I’d think “What’s the big deal? Don’t we have an infinite amount of time to wander through the rebirth process?” After reading Lal’s concise explanations on how sansara, kamma, rebirth etc. all work together and how rare a human birth during a Buddha Sasana is, it became clear to me what the “big deal” was. I think the fact that you would bring up the question of “sansaric dread” shows that you have a better understanding of Dhamma than the average lay Buddhist.