Category Archives: shaolin

Best Martial Arts Equipment for the Money!

Here’s Some Wild Martial Arts Equipment!

You guys may think that this is a tongue in check article on getting the best martial arts equipment, but it isn’t. I have personally tried the methods here, and they are top notch body calisthenic methods.

First, I tried cinderblocks. I didn’t want to dig holes and sink poles for the Plum Flower Fist, which is a form of Praying Mantis Gung Fu. This was great. Jumping up down gave me strength, as well improving my balance.

martial arts equipment

Yeah, baby!

From there I look for other things to use for martial arts equipment.

Tires were great. I learned to use tires originally for swinging a wooden sword. Took a lot of strength and control to make the tire turn and bounce the way you wanted it to. So I grabbed nine of them, arranged them in a simple grid of three by three, and started walking the circle, Pa Kua Chang style. This was odd, hard to ground through the springiness of the tires. but, you often learn more from what doesnt’ work than what does, so I moved on.

My my next experiment in Martial Arts Training Equipment.I put four by fours on edge and practiced forms on them. This was interesting, and taken directly from Ton Toi Northern Shaolin Gung Fu. Ton Toi means springy legs, and I learned all sorts of things about balance while springing from beam to beam.

And, I tried doing forms on top of fences. It was wild. Trying to spin and move, six feet above the ground, without falling al-l-l the way down! I don’t know how much I got out of this martial arts equipment, but if was fun!

And, in between these things I tried hanging balls from the rafters, punching tennis balls at a wall, and other sorts of things. But my next big foray into martial arts equipment was at the old Los Angeles Zoo.

The old zoo, now sort of gone, or at least redone into a picnic area, was a mess of cages and bounders strewn about in the cages to give the animals some sort of sense of nature. So I worked out in cages…lions and tiger and me…oh my!

And I learned a lot! I especially grew in arm strength. Having to hang on to the side of a cage, or going across the top monkey style, built up a lot of strength in the arms. Trying to do kicks while so perched was especially educated. You get a whole new appreciation for how the hip joints work.

Now, last in my martial arts equipment were trees. At the Los Angeles zoo there were all sorts of low hanging trees. I could walk on the trunks of some of them, climb to joints, and generally swing around and do all sorts of stuff. The interesting thing about this was that I could practice sinking my weight.

One of the places I got this idea from, aside from my experiences in the cages, was a fellow wrote an article where he had to hang from a tree limb for an hour a day for a few months before the master would teach him.

Well, having done a little hanging myself, I can definitely attest to the benefits in the arms and shoulders. It stretches them out and gives truth to the old saying, ‘A long muscle is a strong muscle.’

Now, that about does it except for one thing…all of the equipment I used cost nothing. That’s right, I didn’t have to spend any money at my martial arts equipment suppliers, and I got a better work out than some big nautilus machine could ever give!

Here’s a good article with no martial arts exercise equipment. Here’s the Monkey Boxing Course itself.

Mixed Martial Arts Against Aikido

Mixed Martial Arts and Aikido!

Mixed Martial Arts is all over the TV, Aikido…is not. But, what is the difference here? All hype and excitement aside, what is the difference between these two martial arts?

First, Mixed martial arts, such as you see on the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Strikeforce and other such programs, is a contest. A man beating a man. Thus, it is not an art.

mixed martial arts

A bit different than an Aikido Throw.

 

Now don’t get your panties in a bunch, it doesn’t mean MMA is bad, I never said that. But the difference between an art and a sport is that in a sport man tries to beat man. In an art a man tries to control himself.

Mind you, this splits a few hairs.

Tell me it doesn’t take a degree of self control to enact a strategy in the middle of a fight and I’ll call you a fool.

It takes immense self control to bide your time, play the game, and spring a trap.

However, the real difference here has to do with the type and degree of control.

In Mixed Martial Arts one uses muscles and forceful leverage. It takes real bulldogging skills to take a fighter down when he is bent on taking you down. This is a real fight.

In Aikido, however, one is anticipating the strike, planning on the direction and speed of the strike, and then blending with the strike. Manipulating not by bull dogging, but by harmonizing. Joining with a person, instead of pounding him into a pulp or snapping off his limbs.

Do you see the difference here?

Not forceful leverage, but flowing manipulation. This is a fight of a different kind, and it takes immense…self control to control somebody using this method.

But MMA, as indicated above, is a sport, and Aikido is the art, and the two shoujldn’t be compared because they are simply not in the same arena.

The real problem here, in addition to the type of control needed, is that people insist that Aikido is not a real martial art.

It is a real martial art. It is derived from Daito Ryu Aiki jujitsu and swordsmanship, in which fighters didn’t just fight for the gold and the glory, but for their very lives.

And, the thing that most people don’t know, is that with just a few twists and alterations to the techniques, one could take it into the MMA arena.

That, however, wouldn’t be in keeping with the art, and would change it into something else.

This has been a page concerning Mixed Martial Arts and Aikido.

Check out this great article on Aikido style throws. Or, you could take a look at this course presenting a more combat Aikido style.

Best Karate Form to Learn Karate Online

Learn Karate Online Now!

To learn Karate online one needs the simplest, easiest method possible. And if you want to learn kung fu online or aikido online, or whatever, this holds true.

Interestingly, there are a few simple forms out there.

learn karate online

Jackie Chan knows Kung Fu, but he doesn’t know Karate!


Classical Karate, for instance, recommends a high dedication to what is called ‘Three Step Blocking.’ This is a straight forward step to the front and block sequence of moves. You step and low block, step and low block, step and low block, turn and repeat. And repeat, and repeat.

The problem with this martial arts training method, as you might imagine, is that it gets pretty boring.

Learning it is fun, and doing it as a warm up in class is great and beneficial, but to do it by yourself, hour after hour. Boring.

Ed Parker had a great idea with his ‘Short Form One.’ This little Kenpo Kata is only about eight moves, but it covers the four basic blocks in four directions. Unfortunately, there isn’t much opportunity for change, and this basic karate kata tends to get a little boring, too.

Every system has their basic forms, and they are easily sampled. Probably the best one is the square form.

To do the Square form you simply move around a square. Fight foot forward to one side, left foot back to the next side, right foot forward to the third side, and left foot back to the last side, or the beginning side.

First do it by simply stepping, then, when you understand how simple it is, you can start exploring stances.

The official form is done in a back stance, and with three blocks, low, middle outward, and high.

Now comes the fun part, and the defeat of boredom. Three blocks, four sides. That means the form is constantly changing, and you have to go around the square a few times to get the low block back to the beginning square. You will find this confusing.

And, as you do the form, you keep forgetting where you are, and this tends to build up an awareness, to make you focus your awareness in the form.

The real bonus of this form, however, is that it is not just a beginning form. As you move around and do the karate blocks you will find that the hands tend to circle,a nd they circle in front of the tan tien (the one point) which is the energy center for the body. Thus, you start causing the tan tien to generate more and more ki, or chi.

Within an hour or two of doing the form you will feel the tan tien heat up, and you will feel energy snapping out of the hands, and far in advance of a simple beginning form.

This is the absolute best karate form to learn karate online.

Here is the form on video if you wish to Learn Karate Online. Another good page is this article on how to Master Martial Arts.

 

In the Best Karate Training Drills the Eyes Have It

Best Karate Training Focuses the Eyes

In the best Karate Training drills one should look their opponent in the eyes. This is a very interesting and powerful aspect to Karate training, so let me give you some data about it.

First, I have had a lot of people, during karate drills, ask me where they should look. The common answer that I have found over the years, and this is from Karate school to Taekwondo school to whatever Martial Arts school (style) you are studying, is that you should ‘unfocus’ your eyes on the chest. Look at the center of the body and become aware of all the stuff on the outside.

best karate training

You can’t fight what you can’t face!

 


This actually isn’t bad instruction, you want to see everything, but it stops forward progress for the martial artist at a certain point.

The real advice, if you want to experience the best karate training drills, is to look at the eyes.

The eyes are the windows to a man’s soul; look at the eyes long enough…and you can actually see what a man is thinking.

Look at the body, and you stop looking at the mind, and the martial art becomes a thing of reaction, or, at the very least, slow progress.

So you look at the eyes, train hard, do your forms for discipline, and eventually you will actually pick up on the very thought of the opponent.

Tell me this doesn’t give an incredible edge in combat…to know what an opponent is thinking!

Anyway, the point is this: you can’t fight what you can’t face.

And, as you progress, if you don’t look to the eyes, attempt to see the thought behind the action, then you wo’t make the jump from fighting to handling.

You see, in the real martial arts you learn to fight so you can give up fighting.

You don’t look at an opponent and fight him, you predict what he is going to do by reading his thoughts, and then making moves that undo him rather than harm him.

Can anybody spell the word ‘harmony?’

Only idiots fight all their lives. Smart martial arts students, people who want to experience the best karate training drills, watch the eyes and learn to read the mind.

And, eventually, they experience harmony, and greater control.

Opponents become as children, and as easily handled.

And that is why, when it comes to the best karate training drills, the eyes have it.

Check out this great article on Aikido style throws. Or, you could take a look at this course presenting a more combat Aikido style.

The Real Reason Karate Kata Are So Valuable in the Martial Arts!

The True Value of Karate Kata

There are several reasons why Karate Kata are so valuable to the martial artist. Mind you, we are including many forms of Martial Arts, kung fu patterns, taekwondo forms, whatever.

The first reason Karate Kata are so good for you is purely physical. Simply, if you are doing a form, you are doing body weight calisthenics. Many people over look this, but when you do the first form of Karate, Heian One, or Pinan One as it is sometimes referred to, you are doing approximately 20 squats on the front leg. If you do all five of these karate kata you are doing over 100 knee bends, and these calisthenics shape and power the legs in a multitude of ways. Simply, the leg is completely and fully powered up.

karate kata steps

Jackie Chan said he knows enough Martial Arts to start his own style! Why not you?


The second reason Karate Kata are so great for you is that they teach you control.

This starts with control of the body. You learn how to hold your body in a particular position in space, how to move to another position in space through the quickest and most efficient manner possible.

This fact of control progresses into technique, and here is where kata really shine. When you are doing a technique you are learning to take charge of another person’s body. You control it no matter how violent it is, and you learn to handle it without using effort.

Mind you, there are more efficient ways of learning fighting. You could punch a bag as in boxing for hours and hours, and not learn anything new about yourself body. And, to tell the truth, this author finds that method slightly boring.

So Karate Kata might take a bit longer to learn, but you are not learning to just destroy, you are learning to control, both your own body and somebody else’s body. Very valuable stuff. And that brings us to the third reason martial arts forms are good for you.

To control the body takes concentration, and thus you are learning to take charge of your mind.

Did you know that people who learn real karate, or real kung fu, usually do better in life? That is because they have learned not to just to control bodies, but awareness. They have learned to control thought.

And a person who can control thought can control the universe. Thus, the importance of martial arts forms, karate katas, or whatever you call them, cannot be underestimated.

Here’s a really good article on the secrets of the Martial Arts forms, or, you can always take a look at this online karate kata course.

In Karate Pain Can Work For You!

In Karate Pain is Not Necessarily Bad!

Karate pain might be good, and it might be bad. It depends on the circumstances.

I know, we’ve all heard the saying, ‘No pain, no gain,’ but that isn’t what this is all about.

karate pain

In Karate Pain can be an instruction


You see, there are two types of Karate Pains.

One type of Karate Pain is the real injury. The broken bone, the accidental punch in the nose or poke in the eyes. These injuries, these types of Karate pain are real and should be attended to.

If you’re bleeding, stop the durned bleeding. If you’re nose is broken, see a doctor. A poke in the eye could result in all manner of eye problems.

So you take care of it.

The thing here is to be able to tell the difference between karate pain that is real, and karate pain that is in the mind.

A bruise isn’t usually serious. So just inspect it, take care of it if you have to, and move on.

A dislocated joint, better get that sucker looked at.

A bone bruise…hmmm.

Bone bruises, especially when they are the result of some fast and intense sparring, can be quite painful.

I remember a blocking exercise which kept me in bone bruises for years.

I remember overextending punches, and suffering bone bruises inside the elbow joint where the bones slapped together. That was painful for a long time.

But, bruises, even bone bruises, are just something you go through.

The karate blocking exercise I spoke of, it was called the eight step blocking exercise, and we did it every class, and we all had constant bruising of the forearms.

BUT, after a couple of years of this we would be doing freestyle, do a block, and our opponents would yelp in pain. Simply, we got used to the pain, started ignoring it, and got the abilities that we wouldn’t have gotten if we hadn’t persisted in our karate classes.

And there were other exercises, some quite painful, that gave us abilities that people who don’t take karate, or other martial arts like kung fu or taekwondo, would never get.

The ability to grip somebody with a hand and bring them to their knees simply by squeezing.

The ability to get calm and focused when terrible things are happening and everybody else is going into a state of panic.

There is a saying, you don’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. Man, is this true.

For seven years I broke eggs. I still have bumps on the bones in my forearms from the durned eight step blocking exercise.

But when it comes to getting things done, I’m the go to guy.

Simply, I have faced pain, and now no the difference between real pain, and fake pain, the kind of pain one should just ignore and go ahead with his work.

This is something that is not taught in school.

And, truth, this is something that makes people great.

Pioneers of America had this quality. There was nobody there when they broke a wagon or got shot with an arrow or whatever, and so they had to fix everything themselves.

In recent times this ability, to forge ahead when the going gets tough, has been weaned out of people. But the martial arts, especially exercises that result in the karate pain i describe here, bring this ability out again.

Here’s a great article on the toughest Martial Arts class I ever taught. And if you are seriously interested in finding out more about this Karate pain type of thing, and how it can help you, check out the Evolution of an Art course at Monster Martial Arts.

Dragon Gung Fu FollowsTiger Gung Fu!

Tiger Gung Fu Transforms into Dragon Gung Fu

Dragon Gung Fu refers to internal martial arts training, and tiger Gung fu refers to external martial arts systems.

Dragon Gung Fu would include such Chinese martial arts as Pa Kua Chang, Tai Chi Chuan, and so on.

dragon gung fu

Official Symbol of Gung Fu at Monster Martial Arts

 


Tiger Gung Fu would include such systems as Hung Gar, but would go outside the Chinese to such systems as Shotakan Karate (Tiger Emblem), Kyukoshinkai, and so on.

The main difference between the hard and the soft, or the external and internal martial arts systems, is emphasis on muscles in the hard, and emphasis on the growth of Chi from the Tan Tien in the hard.

Though, to be honest, do the Tiger Gung Fu styles long enough, and you will morph into the harder Tiger systems.

Now, most people consider that all you have to do is gear your training to development of tan tien based martial arts, and that will transform you into a dragon gung fu stylist. And this is true. But, there is an easier way, one that works more in conjunction with Tiger Gung Fu styles.

This means that if you do what I am about to tell you, you can easily transform your hard style into a soft style with just a little shift in your training.

To make the transformation from tiger Gung fu methods to dragon, first learn how to make grab arts out of the self defense techniques you practice in the forms.

This can be easily done, and probably the best example of this is the Matrix Aikido method.

Now, here is where the change really starts. You must learn how to use less and less force when doing those grab arts.

Instead of slamming with the hips, learn how to nudge and unbalance, and let the unbalancing technique take its course.

Now, I could tell you dozens of things, but I shant. It would turn into a complex discussion, instead of a conceptual principle.

Heck, take apart those techniques by the thousands, get complex, but always refer back to this principle of using less and less effort.

And that is the way you transform Tiger Gung Fu into Dragon Gung Fu.

Here’s a great article on how to make Dragon Gung Fu out of Tiger Gung Fu, and here’s an interesting online martial arts course on the subject.

Secret Gung Fu of The Shaolin Butterfly

Secret Gung Fu Revealed!

Secret Gung Fu refers to martial arts principles hidden for millennium. Here is the data you’ve been seeking.

I’ve always wanted to know secret gung fu techniques. I’ve studied Southern Shaolin and Northern Shaolin and Wing Chun and Tai Chi and Pa Kua and…I can’t stop.

This is not bad, of course, for the health benefits and the clarity of mind are absolutely phenomenal.

 

There is one problem, however, that I wish to address here, concerning the martial arts, and this secret gung fu thing.

secret gung fu

Secret Gung Fu shouldn’t be secret, and that is the heart of the Shaolin Butterfly


It can take several years to become expert in a system of Gung Fu. It can take more than a dozen years to master a system of Gung Fu. This is much, much too long.

My solution to this problem was to concentrate on isolating the main concept–and motion–behind a system of gung fu, and concentrate upon just that concept.

I didn’t want to learn by memorizing series of tricks, you see, I wanted to go for the gold. I wanted to find out the real secret gung fu behind any system I studied.

Every system I studied, however, was based on a different concept. Wing Chun slipped and angled , and the Mantis pulled with a hook. Pa kua made circles and deflected, and Tai Chi guided by absorbing. None of the systems seemed related, and this made finding a secret gung fu difficult, to say the least!

But, I reasoned, fighting is, at heart, fighting! There had to be a simple concept that tied them all together. There had to be some simple thing that was common to each fighting system, no matter how different the fighting system seemed to be! There had to be an underlying principle that I was missing.

And, in the end, I found it.

No matter what type of gung Fu you are studying, the body is the common denominator.

Gung fu, flower arranging, dance, taking a walk…they all need a body. And the body is constructed the same, for the most part, from person to person.

Thus, I dissected and analyzed all the arts, and found that there is a principle of body motion, relating to and coming from the body, that is the same for virtually all arts. And the arts I was studying suddenly made sense, and I could see the connections. I had found my secret gung fu.

I had found the source of it all!

Eventually, I formed my own system, and it is based on this common principle of body structure, and the only potentials of motion that a body is capable of.

I call this system the Shaolin Butterfly, and the true glory of it is that is includes virtually all potentials of motion from all other systems of Gung Fu. Oh, and one other thing about this secret gung fu system that is great–it can be learned in a couple of months.

This blog on secret gung fu was originally published 2009/06/03 on the Matrix Martial arts blog.

Martial Arts Training That Is Incredibly Slow!

Martial Arts Training at its Best!

Okay, heres a shocker for you to think about–you aredoing martial arts training using the slowest method of education in existence in the world. Its true. And it is propagated through the mysticism and awe of attaining something that, should you use an updated method of learning, would speed up your learning up by a factor of ten.

martial arts training self defense techniques

Martial Arts Training makes for Excellent Self Defense!

Martial arts training works on a method that has worked for the history of the world, for monkeys. This is the monkey see monkey do method of education. Using the monkey see monkey do method of education, you are trained to memorize random strings of data.

Thats absolutely right, random strings of data. In fact, to be perfectly accurate, it is random strings strings of random data, and everything is tied together through mystical concept. Not logical concepts, but mystical concepts.

That system of kung fu you’re pracrticing, the one based on an animal–I have never heard of an animal being logical. Oh, you fight like an animal would fight, in concept. What youre saying is that the movements that resemble how an animal would move have been gathered together so you could copycat them.

Copycatting is not a concept, and it is not being logical in any sense.

Copycatting is doing what youve been shown…or, in the martial arts world, sold. Lots of money in selling copycat methodology, because you can just keep rearranging the strings of data and fooling people into thinking they are getting something scientific.

Now, you might think that I am down on martial arts training because of what I have said. The opposite is the real truth, however–I am so in love with the martial arts it is unbelievable. I dont, however, believe in learning through antiquated methods.

What I do is take the mysticism of the martial arts, utilize logic to line it all up, and learn ten times faster than the next guy. This method, a vastly different than any method you have ever seen, is called Matrixing. Matrixing is an actual scientific method–it is not the latest fake-scientific-wordage (cyber cranial digitation, neural brain synapses, and that sort of made up so on) that internet marketers use to sell their gimmicks.

The inquiry I often get is how does it work. Consider: if you had 4, 5, 3, 8 and a shaved donkey, you wouldnt know how to count. If you had 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on through all of your digits…you would know how to count.

What I do is align the martial concepts in the correct sequence, so there are no missing numbers, no out of order numbers, and no ridiculous concepts tossed in. When people learn the martial arts in this fashion it is possible to learn, as I said, as much as 10 times faster. Of course it all depends on the person learning, and whether they have a basic education, and etc.

The above all being said, it was not an easy thing to figure Matrixing out. In fact, it took me over 30 years, as there was no precedent for what I was doing. The job is completed, however, and martial artists the world over need no longer be trapped by–the slowest method of martial arts training in existence.

Here’s a great article on a more brutal form of martial arts training using…a Tiger!

(classic post on martial arts training from 6-1-09)

Why Every Martial Arts Kata is a Prayer!

Every martial arts work out or form, here’s why…

Every Martial Arts Kata, every karate or kung fu work out is a prayer!
So don’t miss a single day!

Do you know why I call every martial arts work out a prayer?
Or every form?
I may have gone into this before,
maybe not,
so here it is.

work out

Your body is a motor

 

The thing that sets you apart
from everything else in the universe is awareness.
Rocks aren’t aware.
Trees aren’t aware.
Dogs aren’t aware…of themselves.
People…
human beings…
are not just aware,
they are aware of themselves.

The ability to look inward and see that you are,
that you are thinking,
that you have the capacity for thought and love and hate and…
and everything.

And the ability to look outward,
and reason…to do…

Sort of makes you the lynchpin of the universe.

Now,
if you go to school
they have you memorize stuff
until your mind stops working
and you learn how to get along,
follow directions,
do what you’re told.

Got it?

There is a deliberate effort
(on the part of some)
to stop awareness
and turn you into a robot.

Which explains why so many people
have such a hard time with school.

So,
in this massive thrust to make people stupid,
what is the alternative?
What can make people smarter…
what can make them more aware?

And that is the key.

Well,
the basics of becoming more aware is to look at something.
So you look at a motor that isn’t working.
Can’t figure it out.
You look closer,
oh,
it’s fuel system.
But,
what part?
So you look closer.
Oh,
it’s the carburetor.
But what part?
So you look closer,
ah!
There’s a rusty spring behind that flap over there!

Bingo,
you are now aware of what the problem is.
And,
you can now grow more awareness
as you figure out how to fix it.

Now,
that is a simple car,
a very low form of awareness,
basic education in machine shop 101.

But the procedure is the same,
you look at a problem,
slice it thinner and thinner,
until you get down to what you are looking for.

You increase your awareness by how hard you look.

That is the key.

Now,
you are doing a martial arts form.
But what does it mean?
So you do it more,
look harder.
Look closer.
Oh!
That sequence of moves!
They could be used to defend against a sword strike.
Then you look closer,
Or against a club attack,
or against a knife thrust!
And you look closer.
But if I do the technique this way it is easier,
if I step sideways as I block
I can use less effort,
good idea if the guy is bigger than me.
And,
you look closer.
Oh!
When I use less energy
I’m actually supporting this chi power thing!
Oh!

Do you understand?
You look at the problem closer and closer
until you understand not just
calisthenics to make you stronger,
or techniques to protect yourself,
but into the workings of the body/mind/spirit.

You find the connections deep within
that make you unique and special.

That is an education FAR beyond a simple carburetor

That is an education into awareness.

An education that is not done in schools.

And that is the education possible
when you matrix.

Look,
a few martial arts will take you there,
but Matrixing makes ALL martial arts work,
and, incredibly important,
speeds it all up!

Matrixing takes an education that takes twenty years
and condenses it into a couple of years.

Instead of four years to Black Belt,
you do it in a handful of months.
Instead of thirty years to master enough martial arts
that have actually become a master…
a handful of years.
As little as a couple of years.
Maybe less if you already have a fair degree of experience.

So that is why I am always saying,
Every work out is a prayer.

Every work out is a chance to look into your form,
into yourself,
find out who and what and why you are.

And my thrust as a martial artist
is to make this all happen faster.

I mean,
a lot of things can get in the way in a twenty year program.
You could move,
get divorced,
get ill,
get in an accident,
all sorts of things!

So you have to hurry up!
Because if you hurry up,
likely those things won’t happen,
or,
if they do,
won’t have much impact on you.

I recommend Matrix Karate as the first course,
though I certainly don’t mind if you follow your interest.
Any matrix course is going to have an effect on you,
so I don’t care where you start,
although,
I do recommend Matrix Karate.

Simply,
it has the template for matrixing,
the actual graphs that I use.
And you can use those graphs for other arts,
and even in other aspects of your life.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/

Oinkey donkey.
Go on,
say that five times fast.
Oinkey donkey.

And while you’re doing that,
I’m outa here.
I’ve got a great work out planned.
First a little Matrix Karate,
then some pan gai noon for my shoulder,
and then we’ll see where else.

Wherever else I go,
no matter what kind of work out,
I’m going to look harder,
grow my awareness,
and become the person I want to be.

You, too!

Al

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