y not said: ” Are you sure you do not meean ‘It does not explain how giving dana by itself CAN lead to the Anagami stage.’?”
No. I meant the opposite.
This is a VERY IMPORTANT point. In fact, grasping anicca nature is very much related to it.
One would NOT really have the mindset to give “without expecting something in return” at least in the “subconscious” if one does not have some understanding of Tilakkhana. Otherwise, attaining Nibbana would be much easier, and a Buddha would not be needed.
This is why I said that from the English or Sinhala translations at Sutta Central do not really explain the difference between the last category where one gets to the Anagami stage, and all other categories where one is born in a higher realm due to giving, but would end up in the apayas in the future.
One ALWAYS has “sanna vipallasa“, unless one comprehends Tilakkhana to some extent. That understanding increasing with higher magga phala, and “sanna vipallasa” completely goes away only at the Arahant stage.
I just published the second discourse on Tilakkhana at “Three Marks of Existence – English Discourses“.
Anyone interested should listen to that and it is better to move this discussion to the forum for discourse 2 that I just opened. Those two desanas (and the relevant posts mentioned there) need to be listened to (and read) carefully in order to comprehend this point, and in essence, Tilakkhana.
We can come back to this discussion later if needed. But for now, it is essential to understand those two discourses.
I am glad that you brought up this sutta at the right time.
