Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs explained

Agency Name:	Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs
Type:	Ministry
Nativename:	Sinhala; Sinhalese: බුද්ධශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය Tamil: புத்தசாசன, சமய மற்றும் கலாசார அலுவல்கள் அமைச்சு
Seal:	Emblem of Sri Lanka.svg
Jurisdiction:	Government of Sri Lanka
Headquarters:	135 Srimath Anagarika Dharmapala road, Colombo 7
Coordinates:	6.9144°N 79.8588°W
Minister1 Name:	Vidura Wickremanayake^[1]
Minister1 Pfo:	Minister of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs
Chief1 Name:	Chandraprema Gamage
Chief1 Position:	Ministry Secretary

The Ministry of Buddha Sasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs^[2] (Sinhala; Sinhalese: බුද්ධශාසන, ආගමික හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය; Tamil: புத்தசாசன, சமய மற்றும் கலாசார அலுவல்கள் அமைச்சு) is a cabinet ministry of the Government of Sri Lanka. It is responsible for oversight of the country's de facto state religion, Theravada Buddhism by:^[3]

• General oversight and maintenance of the welfare of the nation's Buddhist clergy and places of worship
• Oversight of Buddhist education in the country, including provision of information technology to temples
• The development of temples as community centres with multiple services outside of matters spiritual
• Maintenance of selected places of Buddhist worship as tourist sites, and maintenance of sites of Buddhist pilgrimage
• The propagation of Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy
• Maintaining the nature of the Buddhist state via necessary legislation

List of ministers

Parties

Name		Portrait	Party	Took office	Left office	President
				12 December 2001	9 April 2004		Chandrika Kumaratunga
				25 November 2005	23 April 2010		Mahinda Rajapaksa
				23 April 2010	9 January 2015
	Karu Jayasuriya			12 January 2015	17 August 2015		Maithripala Sirisena
	Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe			4 September 2015	23 August 2017
	Gamini Jayawickrama Perera			25 August 2017	26 October 2018
	Udaya Gammanpila		Pivithuru Hela Urumaya	9 November 2018	15 December 2018
	Gamini Jayawickrama Perera			28 December 2018	21 November 2019
				22 November 2019	9 May 2022		Gotabaya Rajapaksa
	Vidura Wickremanayake		Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna	20 May 2022	14 July 2022
				22 July 2022	Incumbent		Ranil Wickremesinghe

See also

• Buddhism in Sri Lanka
• Religion in Sri Lanka

External links

• Government of Sri Lanka

Notes and References

1. Web site: LIST OF CABINET MINISTERS. cabinetoffice.gov.lk. 2022-06-10.
2. Web site: Extra Gazette No. 2281/41 of 27.05.2022 (Duties and Functions). documents.gov.lk. 2022-06-10.
3. Web site: About us. Mobs.gov.lk. Ministry of Buddhasasana. 3 September 2017.