You might remember the meaning of the character 萨 with this easy mnemonic:
If you want to practice Bodhisattva, you have to plant flowers (艹) all over the city (阝), balance a lid (亠) on your head, pluck out all your eyebrows (丷) and sit on that cliff (厂).
Using mnemonics to remember the meaning of Chinese characters like has a huge impact on how long to learn Mandarin it takes.