Vipula Wanigasekera

Vipula Wanigasekera is formerly a Sri Lankan Diplomatic Envoy and Director General of Sri Lanka Tourism Authority / Chief Executive Officer of Sri Lanka Convention Bureau. He served in the private sector in the 1990s including Hecht Heyworth & Alcan UK and Deldem Group HK. He is former Senior Lecturer for University of Kelaniya, Open University of Sri Lanka, Plymouth University, UK and currently lecturing at Edith Cowan University, Perth/Sri Lanka. He is also an author on socio political analysis, a consultant business diversifier and academic as well as a meditation teacher, EU wellness tourism expert and Reiki healer.

Education and career
Wanigasekera, a product of Royal College, Colombo, holds a degree from the Chartered Institute of Marketing - UK, an MBA from the PIM - University of Sri Jayewardenepura, and PhD in philosophy from IIC University of Technology. He is also a qualified Carnatic musician from the Institute of Fine Arts, London.

Career
He worked for 15 years as Trading Manager - Hecht Heyworth & Alcan UK, Shipping Manager -Sherman Sons, and Sales Manager - Deldem Group HK before becoming Director of the Sri Lanka Tourist Board in the mid-1990s. He was later seconded to the Sri Lankan foreign office and held diplomatic positions in Malaysia as Counsellor and Norway as Consul General/Head of the Mission since 1997, having established the first Sri Lankan Diplomatic Mission in Oslo in 1999. Later in Sri Lanka, he held the position of CEO, Sri Lanka Convention Bureau  from 2005 to 2016 with a two-year concurrent post as Director General of the Sri Lanka Tourism Authority  from 2011 to 2013,     both under the Ministry of Tourism. He entered academia full time in 2016 serving Plymouth University UK and Edith Cowan University, Perth. His PhD is in Spiritual tourism in relation to Buddhist philosophy and modern non dual concept. Following the launch of his book Pointers to Enlightenment he began to offer meditation and healing sessions for spiritual seekers based on Non dual and Buddhist teachings.

Wanigasekera was a columnist on socio cultural affairs but curtailed his work from time to due to changing situation in Sri Lanka. He published a book with a controversial cover Pointers to Enlightenment in 2013 and embarked on spiritual work offering meditation sessions specially for tourists while visiting Sri Lanka. He later extended this service to other countries including Australia.

Wanigasekera has been featured as a resource person in spiritual discussions on TV which came to a halt on the notion that his version is too modern and out of the box. His you-tubing is attracting a large number of people while being subject to criticism.

Research

 * An Analytical Study of Modern Non-Duality Concept with special reference early Buddhist Discourses and their impact on spiritual tourism PhD Thesis.
 * Anatomy of Terrorism and Political Violence in South Asia –IDA Journal November 2006 - IDA Paper P-4163 Log: H 06-001530 Online - Management of the Tamil Diaspora–LTTE's primary function abroad
 * Behavioral Aspects in Multifaceted Armed Conflicts and their Implications – Sri Lankan Case
 * Overcoming Cross-Cultural Differences in Postwar Sri Lanka: The Case of Jetwing-Jaffna
 * Pointers to Enlightenment: Truth is Simple
 *  Dabbling with the Devil 

Controversies
Wanigsekera's articles in newspapers, Youtube interviews  TV interviews on spirituality, involvement in music, his book Dabbling with the Devil and his research on various topics, have raised questions on his role as an author, spiritual teacher and healing therapist.