The 2025 O/L Buddhism sitting we hold is Paper I: 40 questions across 28 topics. The largest topic is පටිච්ච සමුප්පාදය with 4 questions. The 3 topics asked in every sitting are on this paper: බෞද්ධ කලාව, කර්මය and ධම්මපදය.
බුද්ධ චරිතය, පාරමිතා හා ජාතක කථා and ගිහි ජීවිතය are not on the 2025 paper. Those 3 topics were still asked in 10 or more of the 13 sittings. 4 questions are on topics that appear only in this sitting. This is the Sinhala-medium Paper I. Paper II is not included. This page is not an official marking scheme.
Topics on the 2025 paper
The table is sorted by how many questions that topic has on the 2025 paper. Sittings is how many of the 13 papers from 2013 to 2025 asked it. A topic asked in 10 or more sittings links to its short note.
| Topic | 2025 questions | Sittings |
|---|---|---|
| පටිච්ච සමුප්පාදය | 4 | 12 of 13 |
| බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍ය පාලනය | 3 | 11 of 13 |
| කර්මය | 2 | 13 of 13 |
| ධර්ම සංගායනා | 2 | 11 of 13 |
| පංච උපාදානස්කන්ධ | 2 | 1 of 13 |
| බෞද්ධ කලාව | 2 | 13 of 13 |
| බෞද්ධ සාහිත්‍යය | 2 | 9 of 13 |
| ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ බුදුසමය | 2 | 8 of 13 |
| සූත්‍ර දේශනා | 2 | 9 of 13 |
| අභිඤ්ඤා ඤාණ | 1 | 4 of 13 |
| ආර්ය අෂ්ටාංගික මාර්ගය | 1 | 9 of 13 |
| චින්තන නිදහස | 1 | 4 of 13 |
| ත්‍රිපිටකය | 1 | 2 of 13 |
| ධම්මපදය | 1 | 13 of 13 |
| ධර්ම දේශනාවේ ආරම්භය | 1 | 4 of 13 |
| පංච ඉන්ද්‍රිය | 1 | 1 of 13 |
| පංච නීවරණ | 1 | 8 of 13 |
| පාපමිත්‍ර සේවනය | 1 | 1 of 13 |
| බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේගේ අවසන් කාලය | 1 | 4 of 13 |
| බුදුසමය හා සමකාලීන රාජ්‍යයන් | 1 | 2 of 13 |
| බෝසත් චරිතය | 1 | 3 of 13 |
| බෞද්ධ සෞඛ්‍ය චින්තනය | 1 | 7 of 13 |
| මංගල සූත්‍රය | 1 | 5 of 13 |
| සංඝ ගුණ | 1 | 8 of 13 |
| සතර බ්‍රහ්ම විහරණ | 1 | 3 of 13 |
| සංසාරය හා පුනර්භවය | 1 | 3 of 13 |
| සිඟාලෝවාද සූත්‍රය | 1 | 10 of 13 |
| සිදුහත් කුමරුගේ ජීවිතය | 1 | 8 of 13 |
The regulars that came back
10 topics are asked in 10 or more sittings. 7 of them are on the 2025 paper, and they carry 15 of its 40 questions. What each one asked in 2025, from the reasons, is below.
- පටිච්ච සමුප්පාදය (4). The questions asked for a link in the chain, and for the line that nothing arises without a cause. They also asked which sutta teaches that line with a fire simile, and which sutta traces craving through to conflict.
- බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍ය පාලනය (3). One question asked which conduct makes a ruler decline. One asked which king gave the wheel-turning advice. One asked which list tells a king to consult virtuous monks.
- කර්මය (2). One question asked which group a careless act belongs to. The other asked which sutta explains why lives are long or short.
- ධර්ම සංගායනා (2). One question asked what a council is. The other asked which king supported the council held in Kashmir.
- බෞද්ධ කලාව (2). One question asked which places belong to one period. The other asked which statement about the moonstone is wrong.
- ධම්මපදය (1). The question gave a verse about holding on to abuse and asked what that verse means.
- සිඟාලෝවාද සූත්‍රය (1). The question asked which habit is not one of the six ways wealth is wasted.
The full ranking is in which Buddhism MCQ topics repeat. The notes are in short notes for the topics that repeat.
Regulars the 2025 paper skipped
බුද්ධ චරිතය, පාරමිතා හා ජාතක කථා and ගිහි ජීවිතය are not on the 2025 paper. One missed sitting does not mean they will be missed again. Keep them in the plan. This page does not say whether the 2026 paper will ask them.
- බුද්ධ චරිතය (12 of 13, 36 questions)
- පාරමිතා හා ජාතක කථා (12 of 13, 25 questions)
- ගිහි ජීවිතය (10 of 13, 17 questions)
New on the 2025 paper
3 topics appear only in this sitting, out of the 13 we hold: පංච උපාදානස්කන්ධ, පංච ඉන්ද්‍රිය and පාපමිත්‍ර සේවනය. They carry 4 questions. The paper still reaches past the list of topics that repeat, so revise the syllabus lists as well as the topics that repeat.
Where the 2025 paper was hard
Of the 40 questions, we rated 12 easy, 19 medium and 9 hard. These are our ratings, not the Department's. Across the whole pool, 16% of questions are rated hard. පටිච්ච සමුප්පාදය and බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍ය පාලනය each have 2 questions we rated hard. Where the hard questions sit, across every paper we hold, is in the hardest Buddhism MCQ topics.
One worked question from the 2025 O/L Buddhism paper
This question is already public on the 2025 O/L Buddhism paper page, which shows 5 questions from that sitting with the correct option and the reason. It is one of that sample, not a second copy of the paper. The short note for Buddhist governance names three lists: the seven conditions of non-decline, the ten royal duties, and the duties of a wheel-turning king. This question belongs to the last of those.
“දරුව, මෙම සක්විති රජකම ඔබට පිය උරුමයෙන් හිමිවන්නෙක් නොවේ. ඒ සඳහා නිසි පිළිවෙත් පුරා සුදුස්සෙකු විය යුතු ය.” තම පුතුට මෙලෙස අවවාද ලබා දුන්නේ,
- Aබිම්බිසාර රජතුමා ය.
- Bබින්දුසාර රජතුමා ය.
- Cඋදේනි රජතුමා ය.
- Dදළ්හනේමි රජතුමා ය.
How to use this before the 2026 paper
The 2026 O/L Buddhism paper is on Tuesday, 8 December 2026. Papers I and II together, 08:30 – 11:40. That date and time are the Department of Examinations time table, issued on 6 October 2026. The official copy is on doenets.lk. The day is written up in the paper-day guide, the weeks up to it are in the 8-week plan, and the full table is in the O/L time table.
Do පටිච්ච සමුප්පාදය first, and the 3 topics that appear in every sitting. Then the 3 regulars this paper skipped. Then mix the years. The same list comes back in new wording. Read why the wrong options are wrong. The 2026 sitting is one block that includes Paper II as well as Paper I. This analysis is Paper I only.
What this page is not
There is no PDF to download. You cannot play a single year on its own: the journey starts at the beginning. The 2025 O/L Buddhism paper page shows 5 questions from that sitting so you can see the paper. It does not play that year by itself. Paper II is not included. English medium is not here: the questions are the Sinhala-medium paper. Practise them in the O/L Buddhism journey. Every sitting is on the O/L Buddhism past papers page.
One more, to try yourself
බුදුරජාණන් වහන්සේ මහා මොග්ගල්ලාන සූත්‍රය දේශනා කළේ කුමන ස්ථානයේදී ද?
- Aවිශාලා මහනුවර වන පියසකදී
- Bගග්ගරා පොකුණ සමීපයේදී
- Cකලන්දක නිවාප නම් ස්ථානයේදී
- Dමහී ගංගා තීරය අසලදී
Common questions
What did the 2025 O/L Buddhism paper test?
The 2025 sitting we hold is Paper I, 40 questions across 28 topics. The largest topic is පටිච්ච සමුප්පාදය with 4 questions. The 3 topics asked in every sitting are on this paper: බෞද්ධ කලාව, කර්මය and ධම්මපදය. 3 topics asked in 10 or more sittings are not on it: බුද්ධ චරිතය, පාරමිතා හා ජාතක කථා and ගිහි ජීවිතය. 4 questions are on topics that appear only in this sitting.
Which regular topics were not on the 2025 paper?
3 topics asked in 10 or more of the 13 sittings were not on the 2025 paper: බුද්ධ චරිතය, පාරමිතා හා ජාතක කථා and ගිහි ජීවිතය. One missed sitting is not a reason to drop them.
Where are the 2025 O/L Buddhism paper answers?
The 2025 paper page shows 5 questions from that sitting, with the correct option and the reason. One of them is worked on this page. The rest are in the app. There is no PDF. This page is not an official marking scheme.
Can I download the 2025 paper as a PDF or practise only that year?
No. There is no PDF to download. You cannot play a single year on its own: the Buddhism journey starts at the beginning. A year page shows 5 questions from that sitting so you can see the paper. It does not play that year by itself.