mushrooms and Ayurveda

[Guest guest]

Hi GB-

 

when you survey various cultures you will see that some are fungiphobes

and some are fungiphiles

for e.g., some first nations groups in North America are in the former,

along with traditional East Indian beliefs, whereas Chinese and

Europeans tended to be fungiphiles

 

in Ayurveda the thinking is that b/c fungi consume dying or decaying

material they are more tamasic

this is somewhat striking to Chinese practices however, in which eating

mushrooms is generally thought to be good for the mind and meditation

 

some fungi can cause problems in people with pre-existing fungal

infections, e.g. candida, or sama conditions, but some mushrooms can

actually benefit such cases, e.g. reishi, maitake, shitake, grifolia,

trametes, codonopsis etc. etc.

these same mushrooms are excellent in immune deficiency and cancer, to

enhance ojas

i use these mushrooms extensively in my practice, esp, reishi, which is

an excellent herb to treat vata conditions such as anxiety,

nervousness, insomnia etc.

 

fungi can be difficult to identify, which may underlie some of the bias

against them

mycologists have an entire category of LBMs, 'little brown mushrooms'

that can only be identified by examining the spore print with a

microscope

perhaps for this reason, as well as the fact that some fungi are toxic

or psychoactive, or b/c they are hosts to insects, Indians

traditionally stayed away from them

 

but upon deeper examination, especially in the light of the story of

Jivaka Komarabhacha who could not find a plant that could not be used

as a medicine, i think the bias in Ayurveda against mushrooms is

another example of a system that has been dragged down by inflexible

rules

 

the tenets of Ayurveda were revealed during the satya yuga - as we have

descended into the kali yuga people have lost the capacity to think for

themselves and instead increasingly rely upon laws and rules that may

or may not be true

 

medieval commentators in Ayurveda are notorious for coming up with all

kinds of weird restrictions that were originally reflective of some

inherent truth, but because that knowledge becomes so highly codified

it becomes irrelevant and inflexible - this is simply a facet of the

kali yuga

 

as we move out of the kali yuga (according to Sri Yukteshvar) its

important for all of us to think for ourselves

when we come up against something like "fungi are tamasic" in Ayurveda

we really need to examine this truth for ourselves: in my experience,

it is not necessarily true

 

>

>

> I have wondered about this for awhile. In Ayurveda, it is generally

> recommended not to eat mushrooms. I know that mushrooms are

> considered tamasic.However, in Chinese medicine, mushrooms are in many

> remedies. Reishi, shitake and maitake are particularly recommended.

> Why is there such a difference?

>

> Also, both TMC and Ayurveda both have 5 elements but differnet

> elements. Is there a relationship between the different elements of

> each philosophy?

 

yes - they are the same

but they have evolved in different cultures and thus have different

characteristics, names, terms, descriptors etc

but it is all the same - they evolved from the same mother system

 

a good example of this is the chinese concept of the san jiao, the

"triple burner" and tridosha sthana

they are the same idea

in this way, some aspects of Chinese medicine can greatly add to the

sophistication of Ayurveda, and vice versa

Caldecott

todd

www.toddcaldecott.com

[jodilee 0]

I have been studying the benefits of certain mushrooms as immune tonics, and have also felt that the old ideas of mushrooms being tamasic in nature is just that: and old and rigid idea. Do you think that it is acceptable to use them in formulation with traditional "Ayurvedic" herbs? If they present the same benefit as a nutritive tonic I would think that there is no conflict.