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泥菩薩過江
  nai4 pou4 saat3 gwo3 gong1   jyutping
  ni2 pu2 sa4 guo4 jiang1   pinyin
in a sorry/pitiable plight; unable to protect even one's own interests; hardly able to save oneself (let alone anyone else)
[literal] like a clay idol fording a river
[] 菩薩

This is a two-part allegorical saying with 自身難保 as the latter part that is often said together with the first part. There is no pun intended in this saying. The explanation is rather straightforward - a clay idol can hardly keep going while crossing a river, let alone helping anyone else.
Idiom

Level: 4
This term is used in Cantonese, not Mandarin/Standard written Chinese.
泥菩薩過江 / 泥菩萨过江

This word has been viewed 1746 times since 30th Oct 2012, was added by C Chiu on 25th Aug 2011 05:06
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Characters in this word:

 nai4 nei6  -  mud, plaster; bigoted
 pou4  -  bodhi
 saat3  -  Buddhist gods; (transliteration)
 gwo3  -  pass through; across
 gong1  -  large river; Chinese surname
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Copyright Adam Sheik 2003-2024.