Buddhism is also considered as a minority religion as only 2.4% of Australia affiliate with the religion, but it does follow Christianity by being the second largest throughout the country. All three branches of Buddhism including Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana can be seen in Australia (Chung Tian Temple, 2014). The refugee immigration influenced the growth of Buddhism in Australia. Most of the refugees came from the Indo-Chinese wars and the majority of them came from Vietnam and Laos. The Vietnamese brought with them the Mahayana teachings while the people from Laos brought with them the Theravadin teachings which highly influenced the growth in the Buddhist population.
Buddhism, with its emphasis on meditation, ethics, reflection as well as self awareness, is thought to allow Australians to 'break free' from the materialism of the Western society and achieve awareness and spirituality therefore creating a more peaceful and self aware population.
Australia also contains seven temples as a place of worship for Buddhists these temples are located with one in every state except New South Wales which are home to two temples.