Christmas Island Mahayana Buddhist Society
The Christmas Island Mahayana Buddhist Society complex, founded in the early 1990s in Settlement, includes two Buddhist temples dedicated to the bodhisattvas Di Zang (Kṣitigarbha) and Guan Yin (Avalokiteśvara). The complex is on the site of two respectfully repurposed earlier temples, dedicated to patron deities of Machinery, Chiyou, and Carpentry, Lu Ban. It also has a teaching hall, with a statue of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara.1 A large Bodhi tree in its garden, gifted in 1995 to the community by Ajahn Brahm, prominent Buddhist teacher and Abbot of the Thai Forest tradition Bodhinyana Monastery in Serpentine, Western Australia. Adjacent to the complex is the Chinese Cultural and Heritage Museum, which includes artefacts from the original Christmas Island temples, including a statue of Guan Yin. Many Bodhi trees surround the complex on the cliff behind it and across the street, overlooking the ocean.2
The Christmas Island Mahayana Buddhist Society has a close relationship with Bodhinyana and the Buddhist Society of Western Australia. Bhantes Cunda and Bodhidhaja held a retreat there in 2024, and visited again for Vesak celebrations in 2026.3 The Society also hosts regular visits from Mahayana Buddhist teachers and monastics from Singapore.
The Christmas Island Buddhist community celebrates a number of festivals, including Chinese New Year, Qing Ming, and the Hungry Ghost festival. Christmas Island has around fifteen working temples, Daoist and Buddhist, and also has two of the oldest Chinese cemeteries in Australia, and many sacred Bodhi trees.4
By: Anna Halafoff and Sue Smith
References:
1 National Trust of Western Australia, Temples and Shrines of Christmas Island (National Trust of Western Australia, 2016), https://christmasislandheritageblog.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/temples-shrines-final-reduced.pdf.
2 Anna Halafoff, Juewei Shi, and Sue Smith, “Red Crabs and Rediscovering the Chinese Religions of Christmas Island,” ABC Religion and Ethics, accesed November 12, 2023, https://www.abc.net.au/religion/red-crabs-and-rediscovering-chinese-religions-christmas-island/106001656.
3 “Christmas Island Mahayana Buddhist Society Inc.,” Relax and Grow Retreats, accessed May 19, 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5yIy2qKbxY.
4 Helene Catherine Bartleson, Golden Leaves: An Introduction to the Chinese Cemeteries of Christmas Island (BooBook Editions, 2008); National Trust of Western Australia, Temples and Shrines of Christmas Island.