📖 Meaning
A Buddhist term meaning to universally save all sentient beings. Buddhism teaches that people are endlessly troubled and lost, like drowning in a sea of suffering, and the Buddha uses great compassion and power to rescue them so they may reach the other shore of enlightenment. It is synonymous with 普度众生.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, which holds that all sentient beings suffer in the endless cycle of samsara, like people drowning in a vast sea. The Buddha and bodhisattvas, driven by boundless compassion (大慈大悲), vow to use their spiritual power to rescue every living being and guide them toward liberation and the far shore of nirvana. The phrase reflects the core Mahayana ideal of universal salvation, where enlightenment is pursued not for oneself alone but for the benefit of all. It appears throughout various Buddhist sutras and commentaries as an expression of the bodhisattva's supreme vow.
💡 Example Usage
这位高僧一生慈悲，立志普济众生，度化有缘之人。
This eminent monk lived a life of compassion, resolving to save all living beings and guide those with karmic affinity toward enlightenment.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 普济众生
- Pinyin: pǔ jì zhòng shēng
- Literal Translation: universal, aid, all, living beings
- Category: Morality
- Characters: 4