over a long period of time one can communicate with the spirits, and one's body becomes light ". the mingyi bielu records that in the 6th century, mabo were, "very little used in medicine, but the magician-technicians say that if one consumes them with ginseng it will give one preternatural knowledge of events in the future." meng shen's c. 670 shiliao bencao (食療本草 "nutritional therapy pharmacopeia") says people will combine equal parts of raw cannabis flowers, japanese sweet flag, and wild mandrake, "pound them into pills of the size of marbles and take one facing the sun every day. after one hundred days, one can see spirits." tang shengwei's 1108 zhenglei bencao (證類本草 "reorganized pharmacopeia") gives a more complete account on the pharmaceutical uses of cannabis: "ma-fen has a spicy taste; it is toxic; it is used for waste diseases and injuries; it clears blood and cools temperature; it relieves fluxes; it undoes rheumatism; it discharges pus. if taken in excess, it produces hallucinations and a staggering gait. if taken over a long term, it causes one to communicate with spirits and lightens one's body." according to the sinologists and historians joseph needham and lu gwei-djen, some early daoists adapted censers for the religious and spiritual use of cannabis. the c. 570 daoist encyclopedia wushang biyao (無上秘要 "supreme secret essentials") recorded adding cannabis into ritual censers, and they suggest yang xi (330-c. 386), who wrote the shangqing scriptures during alleged visitations by daoist xian, was "aided almost certainly by cannabis". mantuolou: datura stramonium datura stramonium fruit and seeds the mantuoluo (曼陀罗; 曼陀羅; màntuóluó; man-t'o-lo "datura stramonium; jimsonweed" or "(buddhism) mandala") contains highly toxic tropane alkaloids. several datura species were introduced into china from india, and li shizhen's 1596 bencao gangmu was the first herbal to record the medicinal use of flowers and seeds. the drug is used in combination with cannabis sativa and taken with wine as an anesthetic for small operations and cauterizations. li shizhen personally experimented with jimsonweed and recorded his experience as follows: "according to traditions, it is alleged that when the flowers are picked for use with wine while one is laughing, the wine will cause one to produce laughing movements; and when the flowers are picked while one is dancing, the wine will cause one to produce dancing movements. that such movements will be produced when one becomes half-drunk with the wine and someone else laughs or dances to induce these actions." maogen: ranunculus japonicus ranunculus japonicus the maogen (毛茛; máogèn; mao-ken "ranunculus japonicus; buttercup") is a poisonous plant with bright yellow flowers. the daoist alchemist ge hong's c. 340 zhouhou jiuzu fang (肘後救卒方 "remedies for emergencies", says, "among the herbs there is the shui lang (water lang, a kind of mao-ken) a plant with rounded leaves which grows along water courses and is eaten by crabs. it is poisonous to man and when eaten by mistake, it produces a maniacal delirium, appearing like a stroke and sometimes with blood-spitting. the remedy is to use licorice." later herbals, which do not mention maogen as a deliriant, say the whole plant is considered poisonous and is should only be externally used as a medicine for irritation and inflammation. xiaojun: gymnopilus junonius(?) gymnopilus junonius panaeolus papilionaceus the xiaojun (笑菌; xiàojùn; hsiao-ch'un "laughing mushroom") was known to chinese herbalists for centuries before modern botanists identified it as a type of psilocybin mushroom, most likely either gymnopilus junonius or laughing gym or panaeolus papilionaceus or petticoat mottlegill. the earliest record of a mushroom that causes uncontrollable laughter appears in zhang hua's c. 290 bowuzhi compendium of natural wonders, in a context describing two unusual kinds of jùn (菌 "mushroom; fungus") that grow on tree bark. in all the mountain commanderies to the south of the yangzi, there is a fungus which grows throughout the spring and summer on the large trees that have fallen down; it is known as the zhen . if one eats it, it is tasty, but suddenly the poison takes effect and kills the eater. … if one eats sweet gum tree growths , they will induce uncontrollable laughter. if one drinks "earth sauce" one will recover. the bencao gangmu records tao hongjing's recipe for preparing "earth sauce": "dig out a pit three chi deep in a place where there is yellow earth. take freshly-drawn water and pour it into the pit, stirring the water so as to make it turbid. after a short while, draw off the clear water and use this. it is called either 'soil sauce' or 'earth sauce'." hui-lin li quotes a chinese-language study of "laughing mushrooms" that this "soil infusion" is the clear liquid after soil is mixed with water and allowed to settle, and an effective antidote for poisons. subsequent chinese authors give many similar records. chen renyu's (陳仁玉) i245 jùnpǔ (菌譜 "mushroom guidebook") says this fungus is named tǔxùn (土蕈 "earth mushroom") or dùxùn (杜蕈 "pear mushroom") and "grows in the ground. people believe it to be formed by the air from poisonous vermin, and kills people if taken.... those poisoned by it will laugh. as an antidote, use strong tea, mixed with alum and fresh clear water. upon swallowing this, it will cure immediately". the c. 304 nanfang caomu zhuang mentions sweetgum tree growths in a quite different context, the shamans in the southern state of yue use a magical fēngrén (楓人 "sweetgum person") that is a kind of liúyǐng (瘤癭 "gall") found growing on sweetgum trees. "when aged they develop tumors. sometimes in a violent thunder storm, the tree tumors grow suddenly three to five feet in one night, and these are called feng-jen. the witches of yueh collect these for witchcraft, saying that they have proof of their supernatural quality." later sources gave two explanations of the sweetgum tree growths, either as galls that resemble humans and have magical powers or as parasitic plants with rain-giving powers. in japan, both medieval and modern sources record laughing mushrooms. an 11th-century story in the konjaku monogatarishū describes a group of buddhist nuns who ate maitake (舞茸 "dancing mushrooms") and began to laugh and dance uncontrollably. it is also known as the waraitake (笑茸 "laughing mushroom"), which scholars have identified as the panaeolus papilionaceus or petticoat mottlegill; the related panaeolus cinctulus or banded mottlegill; and the psilocybin mushroom gymnopilus junonius or laughing cap also called ōwaraitake (大笑茸 "big laughing mushroom"). in a study on early daoist practitioners searching for the elixir of immortality, needham and lu mention the possible use of hallucinogenic plants, such as amanita muscaria "fly agaric" and xiaojun "laughing mushrooms". based on tang dynasty and song dynasty references, they tentatively identify it as a panaeolus or pholiota and suggest that the properties of at least some psychoactive mushrooms were widely known. they predict the further exploration of hallucinogenic fungi and other plants in daoism and in chinese culture in general "will be an exciting task".