"Hand" 按 is everywhere

 

In the Classical Tai Chi Square Form Manual,https://www.classicaltaichi.com/PDF/squareform.pdf all of the 108 movements have "names." In the context of answering the "name" concerns of a student on Teachable.com, Master Hwa stated: "Do not put too much attention on the names. The names are just for the convenience of reference. My teacher never mentioned any names of the movements, and he said it is entirely arbitrary. I am using it here purely for reference purposes."

I think this is terrific advice, especially for those of us who do not speak Chinese. Much in the names of Tai Chi movements is lost because we must rely on "run of the mill" English translations. However, what is interesting is that the words seem to run a gamut from the seemingly inane to the very poetic. Some seem Taoist or even Buddhist. Some even seem as though they advise on how to behave oneself. Yet some suggest how to move during the Tai Chi. There is talk of various objects and even how to use them. As typifies statements about Kung Fu, there are descriptions and how to move like certain animals. We know that Classical Tai Chi has to be beneficial for martial arts and health, and some of the names are straightforward descriptions of kicking and punching.

So in keeping with my talk of knowing very little Chinese, I studied small amounts of Chinese at the International Institute in Buffalo, as well as Buffalo State College. Ironically, what has been intriguing in my study of Tai Chi has been the amount of ink/brush Calligraphy I learned from a Chinese American artist. I never fail to discover and learn something new about both. For instance, I am intrigued by the character for the English word "Hand" 手 because I recently discovered its true character composition. 手 is both a word and a radical. It is written as 扌 when used as a radical on the left side of a character.

A look at the "Square Form Manual" shows that a vast majority of the Chinese characters use扌as well as手. "An," 按, where you can see the "radical for hand on the left is frequently translated as "push," which is the character for one of the 13 postures of Tai Chi. Hopefully, what might improve national push hands competitions is the fact that "An" is also used exclusively in forms of Massage. "An mo" is a type of Massage used for health maintenance and to restore vitality. Its name means "press and stroke" in Chinese, of which "press" is translated as "An".