泥菩薩過江，自身難保

like a clay Bodhisattva fording a river, can't guarantee his own safety / unable to save oneself, let alone others

mud / clay / paste / pulp

restrained

Bodhisattva

clay Bodhisattva

Bodhisattva (Buddhism)

Bodhisattva / surname Sa

surname Guo

to cross / to go over / to pass (time) / to celebrate (a holiday) / to live / to get along / excessively / too-

(experienced action marker)

surname Jiang

river / CL:條|条[tiao2],道[dao4]

self / oneself / from / since / naturally / surely

itself / oneself / one's own

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

difficult (to...) / problem / difficulty / difficult / not good

disaster / distress / to scold

powerless to defend oneself (idiom); helpless

hard to say / can't guarantee / difficult to protect / difficult to preserve

Bulgaria / Bulgarian / abbr. for 保加利亞|保加利亚[Bao3 jia1 li4 ya4]

to defend; to protect; to keep / to guarantee; to ensure / civil administration unit in the baojia 保甲[bao3 jia3] system (old)