Ancient scholars also criticized lingzhi superstitions

Ancient medical scholars took a rational view of lingzhi. In the Compendium of Materia Medica (本草纲目), Li Shizhen noted that zhi grows from the lingering energy of rotting wood and has been regarded as an auspicious plant in all ages, but that the idea of “eating it to become immortal” is pedantic nonsense. Ancient scholars also criticized some mistaken ideas about lingzhi.