A man in China was caught stealing from a temple's donation box.

When asked why he did it, he said that the Buddha gave him permission by showing an 'OK' sign.

This was the sign:

According to Chinese media Jimu news, police officers from Jiangxi province received reports of theft on Jul. 8 at Shuangyan Temple in Yiyang city.

Investigating the reports, the police found a suspicious looking man dressed in a black and red T-shirt who frequented the temple.

He would wander around and look into the Earth deity's donation box.

The investigations then led the police to a village and a house of a man named Ye Mou.

Buddha said 'OK' to him "borrowing" money

The police questioned the man, to which Ye admitted that he "borrowed" the money after praying to Buddha.

While the admission was enough to incriminate him, he stunned officers by saying that the Buddha gave him an ‘OK’ sign to "borrow" the money on the ground that he would return it.

Ye was then given 12 days of administrative detention for stealing other people’s property.

Ye also admitted to facing financial difficulty in June.

He would wash his clothes in ponds around the temple on weekdays, during which he observed that the temple's donation box was left unattended and unlocked.

He hatched a devious plan to steal the donations to solve his financial difficulties.

Initially, his theft was left unnoticed, and he returned to take more money, until he got caught.

Photos via Jimu News