A Hard Lump Grew from Navel to Heart in Ten Days? Doctor Zhang Xichun’s Huo Luo Xiao Ling Dan (Meridian-Activating Efficacious Elixir) for Abdominal Mass (Zheng Jia)
Patient search terms: hard lump at the navel / hard lump in the belly / lump growing upward / lump after being chilled / hard lump on the body Medical terms for this condition: zheng jia (abdominal mass) · congealed qi and blood (qi xue ning zhi) · accumulation and gathering (ji ju, abdominal masses)
Opening: a hard “strap” grew from the navel and reached the chest in ten days
The case we talk about today is enough to make anyone break out in a cold sweat: a person suddenly grew a lump at the navel that crept upward little by little. When it first appeared it was still soft — but within a few days it hardened, hard as stone, and when you pressed it, it was unyielding. In just ten days’ time, this thing grew all the way from the navel to the pit of the chest! Imagine a long, hard object lodged inside your belly, pushing upward — who wouldn’t be terrified at the sight?
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: When a lump grows inside the belly and keeps getting bigger, Chinese medicine calls it “zheng jia” — a mass knotted together by congealed qi and blood. It is much more common in women, which is why Doctor Zhang Xichun judged that this patient was most likely a lady. The conditions modern people see most often — uterine fibroids, ovarian cysts — all belong to this same category.
Who was the patient? Out in the freezing dawn, walking in a hurry
The patient was in her early thirties. She went to Doctor Zhang Xichun and asked: what am I to do about this lump in my belly? Doctor Zhang first asked about the cause: how did you come to have this disease? The patient said: that day, very early in the morning, it was bitterly cold. I braved the cold to go out, and walked in a hurry on the road. The cold entered my body, and then this lump formed, and it has been growing upward ever since.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The cause is very clear — cold weather, early dawn, hurried walking; the cold slipped in while the body’s defenses were down. Chinese medicine says “cold governs contraction and congealing” — when cold qi enters, the qi and blood freeze and can no longer move, so they knot into a lump. This is a textbook case of congealed qi and blood.
Doctor Zhang Xichun was stumped: what should this disease be called?
Doctor Zhang thought and thought, mulling over what to call this disease — but he could not come up with a fitting name. This zheng jia had grown too fast: ten days and it was pressing at the chest, unlike anything he had seen before.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Everyone, pay attention — what Doctor Zhang did at this moment shows the essence of how Chinese medicine approaches an illness. He did not know the name of the disease, but he did know how it had arisen and what state it was in now: after being chilled, the qi and blood congealed. Knowing that, he could treat it.
No name for the disease — he still wrote the formula, treating by trace and pattern
Doctor Zhang Xichun said: I do not care what name to give it. I know it is congealed qi and blood, so I will invigorate the blood and resolve stasis, and free the channels. What is this called? Treating by trace and pattern (an xing ji lun zhi) — treating according to how the illness took shape and why. This is how Chinese medicine treats disease: I know the cause of your illness, I know your current state, so I treat according to that state — I do not necessarily have to attach a disease name to it.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: This is a little different from what we usually think of as “confirm the diagnosis first, then treat.” Chinese medicine pays more attention to the “pattern” (zheng) — if cold has congealed, warm and disperse; if blood is stagnant, resolve the stasis; if qi is stuck, regulate the qi. Disease names are fixed; patterns are alive. That is what pattern differentiation and treatment (bian zheng lun zhi) really means.
The prescription: four herbs, 5 qian each, all moving blood and freeing the channels
The formula he wrote was remarkably simple: dang gui (angelica root) 5 qian, dan shen (salvia root) 5 qian, sheng ru xiang (raw frankincense) 5 qian, sheng mo yao (raw myrrh) 5 qian. Dang gui nourishes the blood; dan shen invigorates the blood. And ru xiang and mo yao? Both resolve blood stasis, regulate qi and stop pain. Also, Doctor Zhang had a habit — he generally used the raw (sheng) forms rather than stir-fried ones, because raw herbs have a stronger force for freeing and dispersing.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Look at this combination: dang gui nourishes the blood, dan shen invigorates the blood, and with ru xiang and mo yao added in, the formula sets the qi and blood flowing while adding a force that melts what has congealed — once the qi and blood move freely, the lump naturally disperses.
The result: cured after a few doses — and countless patients healed over the next ten years
The patient took this formula, several doses in a row — and recovered completely! The hard strap in her belly dissolved and she was well. Doctor Zhang Xichun saw this and thought: this is a good formula! From then on he used it for all kinds of sores and swellings, internal and external, and for pains of the heart, abdomen, limbs and joints — the diseases of congealed qi and blood. In ten years’ time the diseases he treated with it were “too many to count,” and it worked with remarkable regularity. Later he gave the formula a name: Huo Luo Xiao Ling Dan — the Meridian-Activating Efficacious Elixir.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: A formula that goes from one chance success to ten years of repeated verification, healing countless patients — that is what a truly proven famous formula looks like. Doctor Zhang Xichun did not just write a prescription and move on; he observed it and used it, day in and day out, for a decade.
This formula is famous: required study in every Chinese medicine college
Huo Luo Xiao Ling Dan — everyone, this is one of the most famous formulas in Chinese medicine. Every student in every Chinese medicine college has to learn it in the Formulary (Fang Ji Xue) course. How simple is it? Just four herbs: dang gui, dan shen, sheng ru xiang (raw frankincense), sheng mo yao (raw myrrh), each 5 qian — by modern conversion, about 15 g each. Four such plain herbs, and they specifically treat congealed qi and blood.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: The better the formula, the simpler it often is. Four herbs at 5 qian apiece, nothing fancy — yet it seizes the core disease mechanism of congealed qi and blood: freeing the channels, activating the qi and blood. That is why it can treat so many illnesses.
A bonus lesson: what exactly are frankincense and myrrh?
These two herbs are unfamiliar to many people, so today is a good time to get to know them. Frankincense (ru xiang) and myrrh (mo yao) are not native to China — they are resins produced by trees. Frankincense is the resin secreted by trees of the olive family (Boswellia); myrrh comes from the resin of a different tree (Commiphora). Harvested and congealed into lumps, they become medicinal materials.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Chinese medicine has always been progressive. We have continuously imported herbs from overseas — that is how our ancestors developed this medicine. Think about it: if you went back to the Zhou dynasty, apart from cabbage there were very few vegetables to eat — no tomatoes, no corn; so many things only arrived later. So we must not assume that “whatever existed in ancient times is all we have now.” Chinese medicine keeps moving forward.
Why do these two herbs work so well together? One regulates qi, the other regulates blood
Doctor Zhang Xichun held that frankincense has a fragrant, penetrating aroma and a bland taste, so it can scatter and penetrate, and is especially good at regulating qi; myrrh has a fainter aroma and a pungent, slightly sour taste, and is especially good at resolving blood stasis and regulating blood. Both herbs are slightly warm in nature, so used together they are “essential medicines for freeing the organs and unblocking the channels” — the qi and blood inside the organs and channels are all set flowing by them.
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: Don’t underestimate this pair: pain of the heart, abdomen, limbs and joints — it can treat; women’s zheng jia masses, menstrual pain, postpartum pain from blood stasis, and periods that do not come on time — it can treat; wind-cold-damp bi (painful obstruction), numbness all over the body, and weak or unresponsive limbs — it can move qi and invigorate blood too; and all sores, swellings and painful lumps — it is useful there as well. Doctor Zhang’s claims were quite absolute — because he really did use this formula for ten years.
Doctor Zhang’s verdict: it opens without damaging qi and blood — “truly a fine medicine”
The rarest quality is this: although frankincense and myrrh are opening, dispersing medicines that can invigorate blood, resolve stasis and free the channels, when they open things up they do not harm the qi and blood. Doctor Zhang Xichun rated these two herbs extremely highly — he called them “cheng liang yao ye” — truly fine medicines indeed!
💬 Note from Doctor Luo: There are many herbs that invigorate blood and resolve stasis, but quite a few of them also consume qi and blood while resolving the stasis. What makes frankincense and myrrh precious is “opening without harming” — they dissolve the stagnation yet do not damage the upright qi. That is why Doctor Zhang dared to put them in a famous formula and use them for a lifetime.
What to take away
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You don’t always need a disease name to treat. Doctor Zhang could not name this mass — it grew too fast for any textbook. But he knew the cause (cold) and the state (congealed qi and blood), and that was enough. Chinese medicine treats patterns, not just labels.
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Cold can knot qi and blood into a lump. “Cold governs contraction and congealing.” When the body is chilled — especially at dawn, in a hurry, defenseless — the qi and blood can freeze into a mass. Warming, moving and dispersing is the way out.
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Huo Luo Xiao Ling Dan: four herbs, one core mechanism. Dang gui nourishes blood, dan shen invigorates blood, raw frankincense and raw myrrh resolve stasis and free the channels. Simple, but it grabs the heart of the problem — and it “opens without damaging” the upright qi, which is why a master could use it for a decade with countless successes.
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A formula earns its fame by repeated verification. One lucky success is not a famous formula. Ten years of use, “too many cases to count,” consistent results — that is what makes Huo Luo Xiao Ling Dan a required study in every TCM college to this day.
Case source: Records of Chinese Medicine with Western Reference (《医学衷中参西录》) by Doctor Zhang Xichun; commentary based on public lectures by Doctor Luo Dalun (PhD in TCM diagnostics, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine).