Reishi Mushroom, Ling Zhi

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Reishi Mushroom, Ling Zhi

By Peace | March 30, 2006

Latin (botanical) name: Ganoderma lucidum

Common name: Ganoderma, Reishi Mushroom, Ling Zhi

The Reishi Mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum) is a beautiful, glossy, yellowish-red conk. Used strictly for medicinal purposes, the Reishi is a hard and bitter mushroom. Reishi Mushrooms are polypore mushrooms. As an apple is the fruit of an apple tree, so mushrooms are the fruiting body and reproductive structure of a higher order fungus organism. The actual mushroom “tree” is a fine thready network called mycelium. For the most part subterranean, mycelium lives in soil, logs and other organic trash.

Traditional Chinese Medicine values Ling zhi as the highest ranked herb. Among hundreds of species of roots, grass, woods, furs, animals and stones classified in Seng Nong’s Herbal Classic regarded as the cornerstone of TCM, it is ranked number one.

Reishi was acclaimed as a divine herb that could bestow longevity. It was also deemed as an elixir of life and that it could augment good health and well- being. This might be the case when certain mushrooms were treated as objects of worship or as objects of mysteries describing them as celestial herbs possessing panacea properties. Nowadays, modern research has revealed its active ingredients, which include polysaccharides, organic germanium, triterpenoids, adenosine, LZ-8, and an array of amino acids besides numerous mineral types.

Originally, Ganoderma was a herbal medicine used in China. Lately it has been largely accepted worldwide as one of a health-maintaining food, especially in countries of the Pacific regions, like Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and the United States. More and more individuals became aware of its effects of strengthening the constitution and maintaining health.

Western medicine shall be accredited for its effectiveness, especially in treating the ailments caused by bacteria. However, its has no ability in treating troubles resulting from environmental pollution. Chemical drugs are detected as the origin of numerous drug-induced illnesses.

Presently, what is needed by the people is to seek the healing of the our body as a whole. In other words, it is necessary to regulate the rhythm of our undersized universe, which is our body. To balance the rhythm of our undersized universe, it is necessary to regulate the “Qi, the Blood and the Fluids” which are the sources of our life energies. the existence of a well balanced Qi, Blood and Fluids translate into Health and spontaneous recoveries.

Ling zhi mushroom - this highly prized polypore was once thought to be an elixir of immortality in China and is often used as a symbol of longevity in East Asian art

More information about Mushrooms

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