Endure Him, Let Him, Leave Him to His Own Devices — The Stoic Practice of Hanshan and Shide

When Hanshan (寒山) asked Shide (拾得), it was perhaps before a ruined temple in the Tang dynasty, or in the mist of a barren mountain. This manner of asking resembles Epictetus on the streets of Athens — clad in a threadbare cloak, leaning on his staff, telling the gathered youths: "The only thing you can control is your own mind."

There are so many in this world who slander, deceive, and insult me. What Hanshan asked was never "how to retaliate," but "how to deal with it" — and in this question lies the thrust of Stoic wisdom. Epictetus said long ago: "It is not events that harm people, but people's judgments about events." Those slanders, deceits, insults, and mockeries are like wind and rain outside the door — if you do not open the door, the storm merely howls beyond it. Shide's answer — "endure him, let him, leave him to his own devices" — is not the cowering of one who tucks his neck and takes a beating; it is the clear demarcation of "what belongs to me and what does not belong to me."

I. You will look at him — not to see him suffer retribution, but to examine your own heart

"Just wait a few years, and you will see what becomes of him." This line is most easily read as a curse, and indeed it has become a footnote to worldly grudges, like the whispered imprecations of market women. But interpreted through Stoic wisdom, it means something else: another person's wickedness is like a stone in the mud — it has nothing to do with you. If you crouch down to quarrel with the stone, you only splash yourself with filth. Years later, when you look at that stone again, it remains in the mud while you have already climbed to the mountainside — and then you realize that what you once quarreled over was merely the mud on your own shoe.

II. Respect him — not the person he is, but the anvil fate has placed before you

Shide's instruction to "respect him" is the most subtle point. When Epictetus trained his students, he would have them say to their abusers: "Since you do not know me in my entirety, your criticism is not about me." This "respect" is not bowing and scraping; it is acknowledging the necessity of fate placing this person and this event before you — just as a carpenter, facing a plank scarred with knots, respects the material itself, yet this does not prevent him from cutting around the blemishes. To respect him is truly to respect all encounters in this world as material for the cultivation of the mind.

III. I, too, shall endure you — and herein lies the philosopher's freedom

In the continuation, Shide turns the question back: "And I, too, shall endure you, let you, leave you, avoid you, bear you, and respect you — how about that?" This is no longer a response but a reversal of the entire dialogue, illuminating that faint trace of ego-attachment (我执, wǒzhí) in Hanshan's original question. The Stoics say that true freedom is not changing the world, but preserving the order of one's soul regardless of what one encounters. Shide's words echo Epictetus: "You may lock my legs, but my will even Zeus cannot conquer."

The dialogue between Hanshan and Shide is not the exclusive property of Eastern Zen. See how Epictetus inscribed a similar principle in Chapter 20 of the Enchiridion: "If someone calls you a donkey, you need not be angry — simply consider calmly: if what he says is true, you should correct yourself; if it is not, then the insult applies to a name that has nothing to do with you." Separated by ten thousand miles, the wise nonetheless stand upon the same high cliff, looking down upon the masses tearing at each other over empty fame and tangible gain like ants in a frenzy.

Those who read this tale today, do not treat it merely as an ancient lesson from a Buddhist temple. Consider this: the colleague who slanders you in the office, the anonymous person who insults you online, the driver who deliberately cuts you off on the road — are these not contemporary instances of "Hanshan's question"? If you cannot learn Shide's "leave him to his own devices," you are doomed to hand the helm of your soul to every passing wind and wave.

Finally, let us recall the words of Epictetus, as an ending:

"Do not demand that things happen as you wish; rather, wish that they happen as they do happen — and so you shall be at ease."

If Hanshan were alive today, he would probably light a cigarette and, through the smoke, narrow his eyes at this absurd world of men. And Shide would likely still be smiling, converting "I, too, shall endure you" into a deleted curse word on the keyboard, turning instead to brew his own tea.

January 11, 2026 (Written in imitation of Lu Xun's style)

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