y not wrote: “I think in its category/essence, moral or immoral, it is kusala; punna is inherent in kusala and is the fruit or manifestation of it. So I would say that kusala becomes punna, rather than the other way round.”
This is not correct.
– One who does punna kamma gains merits to be born in “good realms”. That is one who has not comprehended Tilakkhana.
– One who does kusala kamma is doing good deeds with the knowledge and understanding that he/she is not doing those to have “good births”, but to attain Nibbana (i.e., to stop the rebirth process).
– Basically one doing kusala kamma is an attha purisa puggala.
The word “kusala” comes from “ku” + “sala’, where “ku” (for “kunu”) are defilements, and “sala” means to get rid of. Thus “kusala” means to “get rid of defilements”.
– Even meritorious deeds, done with any hidden expectation of a “return” is not a kusala. But it is not an akusala (immoral deed) either.
– It is a punna kamma, that will bring joy to the heart and “good results in a mundane sense, i.e., good births or good kamma vipaka like being born with health and wealth.