‘CALM’ AMID MAYHEM
Brooklyn monks relive temple rob
Buddhist monks defended themselves with a coat hanger — and their own “stay calm” philosophy — when armed goons stormed their Brooklyn temple in a pathetic heist that netted them a measly few hundred bucks.
Despite the ordeal that four monks at Watt Samakki-Dhammikaram temple in Flatbush faced at the hands of five low-rent thieves Sunday, they only wish the callous crew will some day change their criminal ways.
“I want to send a message that we do love and kindness for all the people who do good and who do bad,” Suthea Kong told The Post Monday, a day after the low-yield heist.
“We want them to give up all the bad things in daily life. You have to work. You have to find money appropriately in daily life,” the monk said.
The thieves were decked out in ski masks and dark clothing when they burst through the backdoor of the temple around 2:30 p.m. Sunday, then raced inside armed with a handgun and long knife, monks told The Post.
Callous crime
The goons rummaged through the communal living space upstairs — which woke up four monks who were taking afternoon naps, Kong said.
Monk Channoeun Poun, 43, was the first out, and demanded the gang leave.
“He said, ‘Go out!’ but they came up to him and one of them had a knife,” said Kong, the only member of the Cambodian-based group who speaks English.
The thugs shook down Poun, snatching $60 in cash and a pair of cellphones from the folds of his robes, before pocketing less than $200 they found by rifling through the bedroom of 40-year-old monk Kalyan Yoeun.
They made off with no more than $360 for their unholy efforts, and despite the callous crime, Kong said he and the others are not dwelling on the crooks’ misdeeds.
“It was disappointing that they acted like that,” Kong said.
“But when they ask us, ‘Are you hating them?’ I explain that a Buddhist man tries to stay calm in all situations, good or bad.
“That is the rule of the Buddhist man.”
No arrests have been made, according to police.