For sale: Buddhist temple. Set on 2.4 hectares, featuring a grand archway, meditation centre and lotus pond. Must sell quickly due to millions in unpaid debts racked up by the head monk.

You'll find the Linh Son temple in a Reservoir industrial park about 12 kilometres north of central Melbourne, just across the road from a smash repairs business.

Master Dao, outside the Linh Son Buddhist Temple.

For 28 years, the temple was a place in the northern suburbs where Vietnamese Buddhists could worship and celebrate holy festivals like Tet. The man in charge of the temple was a robed monk named Master Dao.

But now the gates have been padlocked after the spiritual leader engaged in a series of speculative property deals that backfired terribly for his congregation.