050413 (Sa) Inspired by a bitter-sweet joke: How Did 2 Clay Buddhas Wade Through a Creek?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGyA6OKrsJg

"泥菩薩過江" is a twist-and tweak saying (i.e., a common twist-and-tweak takes two phrases to get the whole intriguing meaning, in particular the 2nd part of the phrase enlightening the Aha moment!), which literally means that the Buddha seems having extraordinary strength and wisdom, but if made of clay, s/he even cannot protect or save his/her own life when wading through water.

In this case, the 2nd half of it in characters is 自身難保, which means that "one cannot protect oneself".
Yes, 泥菩薩過江- 自身難保 : A clay buddha wades through a creek - unable to save his/her own life.

After a bitter-sweet joke, I decided to write down my own episode of the "2 CLAY BUDDHAs were crossing a creek". :)! 兩個泥菩薩過江. (Upon finishing the draft, then it also reminded me of a fable in 莊子's - Zhuang-zi 相濡以沫). Perhaps, I might want to tweak it next time for a post?!

Note- Zhuang Zhou, commonly known as Zhuang-zi ,(or Master Zhuang) lived around the 4th century B.C.E , was an influential philosopher during the Warring States Period, corresponding to the summit of the Hundred Schools of Thought. The renowned writing "Zhuang-zi" expresses a skeptical philosophy which maintains that life is limited and knowledge to be obtained is too vast- a precursor of relativism in systems of ethics.