Marc Black

[looking_up]

Has anyone trained with this man or anyone else associated with www.ghosthand.org?

I'm just lookin' out for one of my taiji brothers. PM me if you like, I'm not looking to challege this person's reputation. I just want people's firsthand opinions.

[Repulsive Monkey]

Sorry but I wouldn't go near the place to be honest. Sounds like they have mish mashed a lot of stuff together, and judging on the small amount of time spent studying under a few different teachers, how can one expect to recieve a full body of teachings?

The write up sounds too sychophantic for my tastes. It just sounds like someone who has got a lot of half ideas.
It doesn't really have the feel of a completely transmitted art to be honest yet desperately tries its best to sound Taoist when clearly it just doesn't quite ring true of it.

They may be able to fight etc, but whether you're getting genuine tranmissions of a whole internal art, sounds unlikely. He talks about blocks in Taiji, when you are not meant to train for blocks because there shouldn't be any in Taiji.

I like the quote "A Taijiquan master, while confident of his martial skills, is soft-spoken, humble, tolerant, and at peace with himself and with others." I mean how daft can you get. Yang family Taiji will tell you, which of course they claim to teach, that Yang Ban Huo was a mean buggger, and was particularly bellicose and wild. Why on earth are they painting David Carridine pictures of Masters, when all masters are decidely different. Its the abilities of a master that makes them that, not whether or not they say thank you or please. Plus they are saying its only with developed training that you can circulate qi round the body. Qi circulates around the body if your developed or not. Again daftness abounds.


As I say it sounds all rather so deseperate.
I'd rather just go to a school that concentrates on a single art, with clarity. Not a jack of all trades master of none one, like this seems to be.
My advice is to avoid with predjudice.

[LuTheWanderer]

I'm only going to post this one time. I'm not here to get into some [Explicitly Deleted] war of words with someone I don't know, over subjects they clearly don't understand. The only reason I'm even here is because I've had this link emailed to me three times & each time I only see this single reply, from someone who obviously never met the teacher. The [Explicitly Deleted]iness of the postleaves me really ****ed every time I see it, & I've decided I'm going to be just as immature as the poster. I will avoid making this about my opinion of the poster. His self-designated screenname says it all for me.
I am also posting because everything that I have to say here, would probably be said by all of the studens of any real teacher. There are enough people speaking against them, someone just once has to speak FOR them.
Sifu Black. I know the guy. He learned everthing that he teaches from one guy. His Only teacher, Anton Haddad. Marc went to a couple seminars with a couple of people, just to check things out. He had respect for those teachers, so he mentions that he was there. Marc says on his own site that he lists other people as a sign of respect. It's a traditional Chinese thing to do no matter how long (or short) the time you spend with someone is. It's just about showing respect. It's not sychophantic as you say, or sycophantic which is the proper spelling. You are obviously a scholar, definitely qualified to talk about someone else & what they can do correctly.
Marc Black has spent over 20 years studying the disciplines that he is able to pass on, & having personally witnessed the respect that other instructors of note have had when they talk with him, or trade techniques with him, it was pretty clear over & over again that this guy knows his [Explicitly Deleted].
I've known him for years. He has what I would call a thorough knowledge of the styles he teaches, from the joint locking, the hitting, the defenses, the throwing, & the philosophy. I'd say his work, the way he does this & the way that his students do this, is what makes this an art.
If this guy didn't Really know what was up, why the hell would he be so open on his website? Why would he go ahead & list specific things that he could be called on by someone in the know? It's called self-knowledge. He puts himself on the chopping block because he Can. Knowing that you have what others may not, but being willing to share is called being gracious. Knowing that you only have what you have is called humility. Maintaining these qualities after having been put to the test by many others, many times, is called mastery.
I've always liked to see people who point the finger when they themselves have only been at something for a couple of years. And then post in places like this because it's the only way that they can get people to pay attention to them. I don't know if it's jeaolousy or arrogance, but it's got to be somewhere around there. At the same time that I laugh at the finger pointing gus, I get really ****ed off because people who don't know any better hear those pompous blowhards & assume that they must know what they're talking about, or why post it? (But wait, maybey Sifu Black knows what HE'S talking about too, & that's why he posts it on his website!- maybey even why he goes to the trouble to pay for a way (site) for people to get a little bit more info on their interests.)
You were really creative critiquing his usage of the word "block" on the website that average guys, guys who don't have as deep a knowledge as you, are supposed to read. When I see ideas or terms that might seem to miss the mark, I usually think that those people are trying to make themselves understood clearly by anybody who reads it. I don't automatically think that they lack a vocabulary or don't understand the correct usage.

WAIT! WAIT! THE BEST PART! You appear to pick on Marc because through his own personal experience, a guy who bothers to try & cultivagte positive characteristics & reaches out to the world aroun him to make things better really does end up being 'confident of his martial skills, soft-spoken, humble, tolerant, and at peace with himself and with others.' That's what mastery is supposed to be all about. Just because a great martial artist such as yourself doesn't possess these qualities doesn't mean that the rest of the world can afford to be without them. And then you go off about a bunch of stuff that you decided to interject on your own, some kind of stuff about David Carradine, a mis-quote on qi circulation & all of your own imposed daftness There is someone who sounds desperate here, but I don't think that it's the time-tested/tounament-winning/bodyguard-employed-as teacher.
And finally, since you were the one who wanted to say so much in the first place, you should not confuse yourself with someone who has something to say. Sifu Black is spending his life & experience helping other people in whatever ways his skills can, not using his knowledge (or lack of knowledge) to stick his chest out, or ask if anyone else knows about so-and so as if he's trying to win a popularit contest. All of the hours spent making up these [Explicitly Deleted]ed posts, all of the supposed investigation, & I NEVER NEVER EVER see someone talk about their direct experience with anyone else. All of those hours sitting in front of a computer, posting to these sites, & not a SINGLE EMAIL to the actual people being talked about? Puh-leez.
You say you have a doubt about the 'genuine transmission'?- (as if you'd know anything about that from your vast half-decade of experience) - then GO CHECK HIM OUT. PERSONALLY Cross Hands with him. And then speak with him. Nothing else has to be said after that.

[cjurakpt]

that has to be the record for the longest time between an initial post and an angry rant about it (although the way the KFM server has been acting lately, it's entirely possible the guy submitted the post back in '04 and it only just uploaded yesterday...)

[Scott R. Brown]

Well personally I feel so blessed the such a great man as Marc Black has chosen to share his 20 years of knowledge with us little peons with only 35 years of knowledge.

I don’t know what I would do without LuTheWanderer to set me straight about what a wonderful and blessed person Marc is.

Marc is such an enlightened instructor that his student/friend feels the need to defend him against one post posted 3 1/2 years ago by a nobody person on an insignificant thread, on an little known BB. I feel like I should bow down and let the Chi burst right out my A$$. But since I have not received the special deluxe instruction I guess I don’t really have any Chi to spare.

There!! I feel better now!! I just wanted to show I can be holier than thou and immature at the same time too!!

Or maybe that WAS the Chi blowing out my A$$, I’m not sure??

[mawali]

Black sifu seems to have the skills and the knowledge!
What was his taijiquan teacher's name and whose line of taijiquan did he follow i.e. Chengfu, Banhou, Jianhou, etc?

[Scott R. Brown]

Black sifu seems to have the skills and the knowledge!
What was his taijiquan teacher's name and whose line of taijiquan did he follow i.e. Chengfu, Banhou, Jianhou, etc?

Hi mawali,

Lu posted this info...

Sifu Black....learned everthing that he teaches from one guy. His Only teacher, Anton Haddad. Marc went to a couple seminars with a couple of people, just to check things out.

[Buddy]

[Explicitly Deleted]?

[Finny]

Beware of THE DECISION, Buddy...

[taijiman7777]

I've not yet had the privilege of meeting the instructors or students of this school. Hopefully I will someday. From their web site, they seem to be sincere long-term martial artists who practise regularly. That counts for a lot in my book.

I tend to judge schools by the sincerity of the teacher, and the character of the students. If the students are nice folks, there is a good chance that the teacher is either pretty good, or knows some pretty good teachers. Either way it means that the school is, at the very least, a good starting place.

I don't like schools that ar dead ends. You know the ones where the lineage is ambiguous at best, or the style claims to be the best one in the world.

Good schools will have lots of connections to other schools and styles. Either the teacher will host other instructors, or is invited to teach at other schools.

I want to hang out with people who are always learning and always willing to share with good people.

What I am sure of is this: If the teacher or the student are rude, judgmental, or otherwise disrespectful, then their gongfu probably sucks. No one who has anything worth teaching will want to waste their time teaching a jerk.

[cjurakpt]

What I am sure of is this: If the teacher or the student are rude, judgmental, or otherwise disrespectful, then their gongfu probably sucks. No one who has anything worth teaching will want to waste their time teaching a jerk.

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[Scott R. Brown]

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