Police are searching for three men involved in an attack on a monk during a robbery in Bombay, south of Auckland.
Emergency services were called to the Buddhist temple on Beaver Road at 8:40pm on Friday.
Police say the 58-year-old Vietnamese monk was hit with a baseball bat, handcuffed and stomped on before the offenders fled.
They say the monk is in hospital with a serious head wound and several fractures.
Police are describing the attack as vicious and unprovoked.
They are asking the public for help to identify the three offenders, and are appealing for sightings of a blue Mazda Capella hatchback with the registration number ESJ401.