like a clay Bodhisattva fording a river, can't guarantee his own safety; unable to save oneself, let alone others
trad. 泥菩薩過江，自身難保
Also written 泥菩薩過江，自身難保【ní pú sà guò jiāng , zì shēn nán bǎo】
Characters in this word
9泥
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
mud, clay, paste, pulp
- Pinyin
- ní
- Strokes
- 8
- Frequency
- 9295 of 2500
菩
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
used in 菩薩|菩萨[pu2 sa4], used in 菩提[pu2 ti2]
- Pinyin
- pú
- Strokes
- 11
萨
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Sa
- Pinyin
- Sà
- Traditional
- 薩
- Strokes
- 11
- Frequency
- 5525 of 2500
过
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Guo
- Pinyin
- Guō
- Traditional
- 過
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 73 of 2500
江
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
surname Jiang, (bound form) Yangtze River, (bound form) Jiangsu Province (abbr. for 江蘇|江苏[Jiang1 su1])
- Pinyin
- Jiāng
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 19052 of 2500
自
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
(bound form) self; oneself, from; since, naturally; as a matter of course
- Pinyin
- zì
- Strokes
- 6
- Frequency
- 1586 of 2500
身
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
body, life, oneself, personally, one's morality and conduct, the main part of a structure or body, pregnant, classifier for sets of clothes: suit, twinset, Kangxi radical 158
- Pinyin
- shēn
- Strokes
- 7
- Frequency
- 3095 of 2500
难
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
difficult (to...), problem, difficulty, difficult, not good
- Pinyin
- nán
- Traditional
- 難
- Strokes
- 10
- Frequency
- 1327 of 2500
保
Strokes: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0
Bulgaria (abbr. for 保加利亞|保加利亚[Bao3 jia1 li4 ya4])
- Pinyin
- Bǎo
- Strokes
- 9
- Frequency
- 8049 of 2500