Art of Growing Divine Fungi 种芝草法

The compiler is unknown.

Judging from its content and writing style, it was probably compiled during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui, or Tang Dynasty.

Bibliography of the New Book of Tang recorded a nine-volume work titled Scriptures on Cultivating Ganoderma, which is suspected to be related to this book.

Art of Growing Divine Fungi

The existing version in The Daozang consists of one volume, included in the Methods category of the Dongshen Section.

The book first quotes The Seventh Scripture of Divine Ganoderma, whose text is falsely attributed to Laozi. It states that on famous mountains above springs and under trees and rocks, where cinnabar, gold, azurite, and realgar are buried, ganoderma herbs grow, absorbing the essence of these four substances and containing the harmonious qi of yin and yang in heaven and earth. Ingesting ganoderma herbs can grant longevity and effortless ascension, with medicinal effects superior to other herbal medicines or elixirs refined from metals and minerals.

The book also introduces methods for cultivating ganoderma herbs: on the days of Beginning of Spring, Beginning of Summer, Beginning of Autumn, and Late Winter, dig pits on the shaded sides of mountains in the southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast directions respectively. Mix azurite, cinnabar, gold, realgar with other medicinal ingredients, bury them in the pits, and after a hundred days, green ganoderma, red ganoderma, yellow ganoderma, and purple ganoderma will grow above. It is claimed that harvesting and ingesting them in accordance with the method can lead to longevity and ascension to immortality, enabling one to summon food spontaneously and command ghosts and spirits. The ganoderma cultivation methods described in this book are more advanced than the practices of immortality seekers before the Wei and Jin dynasties, who only collected and ingested naturally growing ganoderma.

Rooted in the Yin and Yang and Five Elements theories of Taoism, it reflects the development of traditional Chinese health preservation and alchemical thought.