Asoka Weeraratna

{{Short description|Sri Lankan Buddhist missionary (1918-1999)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Asoka Weeraratna
{{lang|Si|අසෝක වීරරතන}}

| image = German Dharmaduta Society.jpg

| caption = Asoka Weeraratna

| birth_date =12 December 1918

| birth_place =Galle, Sri Lanka

| death_date ={{death date and age|1999|07|02|1918|12|12|df=y}}

| death_place =Mitirigala, Sri Lanka

| death_cause =

| nationality =Sri Lankan (Sinhala)

| other_names =Alfred Weeraratna
Mitirigala Dhammanisanthi Thera

| known_for = Propagation of Buddhism

| education = Mahinda College, Galle[http://www.island.lk/2002/03/10/news09.html German Dharmaduta Society gifts pictures to Heritage Museum of Mahinda College], The Island

| spouse =

| children =

| signature =

}}

Asoka Weeraratna (December 12, 1918 – July 2, 1999) was a Sri Lankan (Sinhala) Buddhist missionary, who founded the German Dharmaduta Society in 1952.{{cite web | url=http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/13580 | title=Asoka Weeraratne pioneer in developing post-war Sri Lanka-German ties | publisher=Asian tribune | accessdate=17 October 2014 | author=Weeraratna, Senaka}} He is also the founder of the Berlin Buddhist Vihara, one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Europe and Mitirigala Nissarana Vanaya, a famous meditation monastery in the Western Province, Sri Lanka. Asoka Weeraratna later entered the Order of Buddhist monks in 1972 as Ven. Mitirigala Dhammanisanthi Thera and spent his later life as a forest monk at the Mitirigala Nissarana Vanaya for a period of 27 years.{{cite web | url=http://archives.dailynews.lk/2012/11/16/fea03.asp | title=Asoka Weeraratna - Germany's 'Mahinda Thera' | work=Daily News | date=16 November 2012 | accessdate=17 October 2014}}