Sensing Hands: Push Hands Re-framed

"If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things."  K'ung-fu Tzu

This was a portion of the explanation that K'ung-fu Tzu (or Confucius as we know him) gave to his disciples on his principle of 'rectification of names'.

I think about this with regard to our practice of t'ui shou or what is commonly called 'push hands'.  There has been a move over the years by some notables in our lineage to change the translation to 'sensing hands'.  And while it may not be a very good literal translation of t'ui shou, it may more accurately express the intention of this valuable practice and be 'more in accordance with the truth of things'.
 From a practical standpoint it is a useful re-framing of the practice for both novices and experienced players.  Potential participants may be put-off by the word 'push' so never get involved and both novices and experienced players can be misled into thinking of the push as the primary goal of the practice.

Push or the release of energy is certainly a part of the practice like yang is a part of the Tai chi symbol, but obviously not the whole story.  Receiving energy is equally important.  Both cases - receiving and releasing - require sensing, traditionally referred to as listening energy (t'ing chin).  Perhaps another viable alternative would be Listening Hands or Receiving & Releasing Hands or maybe the best approach is to simply use the Chinese term t'ui shou and let it define itself for each person based on their experience.  We don't use an English translation for Tai Chi Chuan, if we did it would be something like Supreme Ultimate Fist, but that would be inadequate.  Like Tai Chi Chuan and the word sung which we translate as relax, the meaning of t'ui shou is constantly changing with a person's level of skill and comprehension. Too rigid a definition of any of these words may impede progress.  As in a sensing hands exchange: if you get too invested in a push, you become physically and mentally frozen and lose the ability to adjust to and flow with you partner.

No matter what words we choose, they can never completely accord with the truth of things.  As Lao Tzu says: "The Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao."