韩毓海：在大风大浪里锻炼成长
【4月10日，《伟大也要有人懂——一起来读毛泽东》荷兰语版在海牙中国文化中心发布，中文原著作者、北京大学教授韩毓海在发布会上演讲《在大风大浪里锻炼成长》，赢来众多欢迎和赞誉。按雷奥诺出版公司总裁莱纳德·沃尔特斯的话说，欧洲人对毛泽东的了解大多源自西方媒体，《一起读毛泽东》的引进能为欧洲读者提供一个以中国人的眼光来看毛泽东的新视角。本文为韩毓海教授在书籍发布会上所作演讲讲稿。】
图为作者韩毓海与版权方中少总社社长李学谦现场合照
各位尊敬的嘉宾、朋友们：
荷兰与中国相距遥远，但却深刻地影响了中国的命运。
1567年是中国明朝的隆庆元年，这一年，中国皇帝下诏，确定白银为王朝的税收货币，从那时起，大量的美洲白银通过菲律宾运往中国，西班牙占领了宿务港后，把这块土地按照菲利普二世的名字命名。
1620年，西班牙人在太平洋上遇到了强劲的对手，这就是荷兰。荷兰占领了台湾，并从那里封锁了西班牙向中国运银的通道，从而造成了明朝巨大的通货危机20年后的1644年，明朝瓦解并为清朝所代替。
我在《五百年来谁著史：1500年以来的中国与世界》一书中描述了这个过程，这本书曾是中国的畅销书，也是我第一本被介绍到海外的书。
我的两本新书《少年读马克思》和《一起来读毛泽东》，尽管没有直接写到荷兰对现代中国的影响，但我今天想说的是：荷兰对于现代中国的影响，几乎是任何国家都不能比拟的。
马克思的思想改变了现代中国的命运。他有一半荷兰血统，而他的姨父利奥·飞利浦和姨妈索菲亚创办的荷兰飞利浦公司，至今在中国有着世界上最多的用户。1872年9月2—7日，就是在这里——在海牙这个伟大的城市，马克思和恩格斯领导举办了国际工人协会海牙代表大会，这标志着世界劳动人民政党组织的诞生。1921年，荷兰共产党人马林协助创建了中国共产党，并参与了中共一大。马林就诞生于海牙附近的鹿特丹市。他协助创建的中国共产党，现在已经有了8000万党员。今天，由中国习近平主席倡导的“一带一路”正为荷兰人民所认同和欢迎。
毛泽东的第一部哲学著作是读《伦理学原理》笔记，那是他24岁时的作品。《伦理学原理》的作者是泡尔生，而这本书很大程度上是另外一本书的通俗版，那本更有开创性的著作就是斯宾诺莎的《伦理学》。
22岁的毛泽东在长沙省立图书馆自修时，读过斯宾诺莎的这本书。读这本书时，穷学生毛泽东也过着斯宾诺莎式的日子——他每天只能买两块米糕充饥。
毛泽东是农民的儿子，他毕生最关注的是农民问题，他为中国农民奋斗了一生。昨天，在参观梵高纪念馆时，我们注意到梵高的名言，梵高说：“我最大的理想就是画农民，表现农民的生活，要画好农民，就必须深入农村，与农民生活在一起”。在梵高被疾病击垮之前，他就是这样做的，当我们在《吃土豆的人》这幅伟大作品前驻足时，想起的是毛泽东的话：越是中国的，就越是世界的。越是世界的，就越是中国的。
《吃土豆的人》
毛泽东毕生的宏愿是“把农村建设好，甚至建设得比城市还要好”。现在，在你们美丽的国家看到了这幅愿景的实现时，我们深感必须向荷兰人民学习农村建设和农业发展的宝贵经验。
马克思和毛泽东都是造反者，如果我没说错的话，现代造反和革命理论的源头，就是斯宾诺莎的《伦理学》。荷兰为现代世界贡献了革命的哲学，也许是因为这个原因，荷兰国旗的一角是红色。
我以为：在马克思和毛泽东之前，还没有哪一种哲学像斯宾诺莎的伦理学更具有革命性。
斯宾诺莎说：“宇宙和自然根本无所谓有序还是无序，而人却只是把自己能够理解的、对自己有利的世界说成是有序的，而把自己不能理解的、不能适应的、对自己不利的世界称为混乱和无序的”——他的言下之意是说，人们往往把一个新的世界称为无序的，因此，人们就往往倾向于把革命、造反理解为动乱和违法。
斯宾诺莎在《伦理学》中说，人们只是把自己可以理解、可以想象的世界称为有序的。“他们还说，天创造万物，次序井然；这样一来，他们不知不觉地便认为神也有想象了；他们的意思似乎是说，神为了便于人的想象起见，特别创造万物使其井然有序，以便使人们想象。但他们没有考虑到，天地间远超乎想象以外的东西，实无限地多，而我们的想象力毕竟薄弱，足以使我们想象惑乱的东西也不可胜数。”
斯宾诺莎的哲学是勇敢者的哲学——荷兰人是勇敢的，是因为他们敢于面对被常人视为无序的世界，正如他们勇敢地面对大风大浪和波涛汹涌的海洋。
1972年，毛泽东曾对尼克松说：“我这个人是和尚打伞，无法无天”。而当翻译把这句话译成“一个孤独的和尚在雨天打着伞走路”时，毛泽东纠正说，佛教里说“万法无法”，因为宇宙间，本无所谓有秩序还是没有秩序，这个话是斯宾诺莎讲的，他讲的泛神论，与这个意思差不多。
那个时候，毛泽东还讲了最有斯宾诺莎色彩的话：“天下大乱，乱了敌人”、“天下大乱，达到天下大治。”他还说：“孙悟空大闹天宫，我们现在也是解放小鬼，打倒阎王”。
1972年，毛泽东没有与尼克松进行意识形态争论，而是按照尼克松的要求，只是谈哲学。毛主席和尼克松总统一致认为：世界上没有唯一的秩序，而哲学不是关于唯一秩序的表述，因为哲学是达致意识形态宽容的语言。而在我看来，宽容这两个字，是荷兰对于世界最大的贡献。
顺便说一下，我相信，也正是秉持这种精神，我的这两本关于马克思和毛泽东的书，才可能在荷兰出版。
我还想强调的是，斯宾诺莎与毛泽东的哲学，与世界上流行的哲学完全不同。因为自柏拉图以来，哲学就是关于精神和心灵的学问，而在斯宾诺莎和毛泽东看来，精神和心灵不过是身体的一部分，而且是最柔软、最脆弱、最敏感、最易变的那一部分。
斯宾诺莎的著名观点是：心灵和精神是人类欲望的源泉，而人要不被盲目的欲望所左右，靠理性的冥想是不行的，因为这要靠强健的身体。这正如要制止人们在私欲的驱使下胡作非为、自相残杀，这靠上帝的律令是不行的。
斯宾诺莎说：“因为这要靠将私人各自报复和判断善恶的自然权力收归公有，由社会自身执行，这样社会就有权力可以规定共同生活的方式。而我这里指的不是法律和理性，法律的有效实施也不能依靠理性，而必须凭借刑罚，像这样建立在坚实的自我保存力量上的社会就叫国家，而在国家保护下的人就叫公民。”
与世界上流行的毛泽东传记不同，在我看来，毛泽东既是通过列宁哲学而成为马克思主义者的，他更是通过斯宾诺莎哲学而成为马克思主义者的。
毛泽东正式发表的第一篇学术论文叫《体育之研究》，刊发在著名的《新青年》杂志上，那是他26岁时的作品。这篇论文提出了“野蛮其体魄，文明其精神”的主张，在当时先进的中国人都在研究心灵和精神问题，如中国的国民精神问题时，毛泽东却认为精神和心灵不过是身体的一部分，只有强健的身体，才能使人克服飘忽不定的欲望。而这种哲学的源头，当然就是斯宾诺莎。
毛泽东不仅这样说，而且这样去做。青年时代的毛泽东，曾经在暑假期间与其他两位同学在湘江边读书锻炼，他们在大风里、暴雨中、烈日下赤膊而立，毛泽东把这称为“风浴”、“雨浴”和“日浴”。那时他在日记里写道“与天奋斗，其乐无穷，与地奋斗，其乐无穷，与人奋斗，其乐无穷。”
毛泽东后来说，正是依靠着这样的身体，他才走完了二万五千里长征。70岁时，毛泽东再次畅游长江，那时，他号召共产党到大风大浪里去，洗掉身上的腐败与污垢。
斯宾诺莎说过，“要想人不是自然的一部分，不遵循自然的共同秩序乃是不可能之事”。斯宾诺莎和毛泽东提供了这样一种自然观，而这种自然观与达尔文的观点完全不同。在达尔文那里，由于资源是有限的，所以人只有通过残酷的竞争才能使自己获得最大资源。但在毛泽东看来，这种自然观不过是为“人不为己天诛地灭”的社会政策背书。
毛泽东认为，自然界的万物之间是互相激发、互相奉献、互相合作的，自由不是竞争，而是合作。因此，他在青年时代的诗歌中这样写到“鹰击长空，鱼翔浅底，万类霜天竞自由”。在毛泽东看来，最大的自利，就是在帮助他人时获得他人的帮助。而他在青年时代这样写到：“人类的目的在于实现自我，实现自我，就充分发挥人之身体和精神能力至于最高。达此目的的方法在活动，活动之所依凭，在于国家社会种种组织，人类之结合。”
毛泽东身高一米八四，在他那个时代的中国人中，这样的身高不多见，而按照荷兰的标准来说，这也许正是一个标准身高。在他的晚年，毛泽东曾经与基辛格说：我希望去密西西比河游泳，就作为一个游客去，只是去游泳。我不敢想象，如果毛泽东活着，当他得知一本关于他的小书在荷兰出版会作何感想。但我相信，他一定非常喜欢荷兰，这不仅因为他是斯宾诺莎的忠实读者，而是因为他毕生所最爱的是风、是海，是大风大浪。这是因为毛泽东毕生喜欢在大风大浪中游泳、远航。
毛泽东年青时代曾经写过：“大风卷海，波澜纵横，登舟者引以为壮， 毛泽东晚年接见日本首相田中角荣时说：“我这个人马上就要去见马克思了”，这句话吓住了田中。田中知道，毛泽东这是含蓄地说自己就要死了，田中首相不知怎样回答，只好否认说：“怎么会呢！不可能的。”而毛泽东笑着说：“是的，马克思召集学术会议，讨论人类未来的问题，我接到请柬，要到他那里开会去了。”
我想，那个时候的毛泽东，也许会想起斯宾诺莎的名句：“自由人最少想到死，他的智慧不是关于死的默念，而是对于生的沉思。”
而什么是生？生就是勇敢面对未知的新世界，生，就是在大风大浪里锻炼成长。
谢谢大家！
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（翻页为英文发言）
Despite the long distance between the two countries, the Netherlands have profoundly influenced China。
1567 was the first year of Longqing of the Ming Dynasty. The Chinese emperor then issued an imperial edict to designate silver as the currency for people to pay their taxes in this year. Since then, a great deal of silver was transported through the Philippines to china from America. Spain occupied Cebu port and named it after Philip II.
In 1620，the Spanish encountered a strong opponent，the Dutch, in the Pacific area. The Netherlands occupied Taiwan, and blocked the way the Spain transported silver to china, which led to the huge inflation crisis of the Ming Dynasty. Twenty years later, the Ming Dynasty collapsed and was replaced by Qing Dynasty.
In the book “Who Made the History of Past 500 Years: China and the World since 1500”, I described this in detail. This book was a best seller in China. It was said that most of the leaders in China had read it.
Though in my new books I didn’t mention the impact the Netherlands had on modern China, but I want to emphasize here that the Netherlands had influenced modern China almost more than any other country in the world.
The first book written by Mao Zedong on philosophy was actually his notes while reading the book“ A system of Ethics” when he was twenty-four years old. The book was written by Friedrich Paulsen and was a popular version of the creative book “The Ethics” written by Baruch de Spinoza.
When the twenty-two-year old Mao Zedong studied in the provincial library in Changsha, he had read this book written by Spinoza. As a poor student, Mao Zedong had the same kind of life that Spinoza had lived. He could only afford two rice cakes
to fill his belly.
Both of Marx and Mao Zedong were revolters. They were people who violated the traditional value. Because both of them defied the order established by God. In my mind, the first country which publicly struggled against “the order established by God” represented by the the Catholic Church was the Netherlands. The original theory of rebellion and revolution in modern times is just the book “The Ethics” written by Spinoza.
The Netherlands had contributed the philosophy of revolution to the modern world. May be that’s why one corner of their national flag is red.
In my opinion, there was no philosophy that was so revolutionary like the “The Ethics” of Spinoza before the time of Marx and Mao Zedong.
Spinoza said: Order and disorder means nothing to the universe and nature. But people incline to regard the world that they can understand and the world from which they can benefit as ordered, and regard the world they couldn’t understand and fit and the world from which they couldn’t benefit as disordered. We can put it like this: People inclined to regard a new world as disordered. So revolution and rebellion is often interpreted as turmoil and illegality.
Spinoza said in “The Ethics”, “People regard the world they could understand and imagine as ordered. They said that God created a perfect world. So in their mind, God has imagination too. It seems they want to express that God created a perfect world in which everything was in perfect order for people to use their imagination. But they didn’t realize that the things beyond our imagination in this large world is infinite, and our imagination is not so powerful. Moreover, there are so many things which could disturb our imagination.”
The philosophy of Spinoza is for the brave people. The Dutch are brave, because they dare directly face the world that ordinary people think as disordered, just as they bravely confront the violent storms and big waves of the ocean.
In 1972, when Mao Zedong was talking with Nixon, He used a pun to express that he took the laws into his own hands. When the interpreter interpreted it as “A lonely monk walked with an umbrella in a rainy day”，Mao corrected him, “In Buddhism, it was said that ‘Thousand laws are invalid’, because order and disorder means nothing to the universe.” It was said by Spinoza. The pantheism he said had the same meaning with this."
Mao added, “Sun Wukong create a tremendous uproar in the heavenly palace. Now we are trying to overthrown the devil and liberate the imps around him.”
In 1972, Mao Zedong didn’t argued with Nixon over ideologies, But talked merely about philosophy according to Nixon’s requirements. Because philosophy is a language leading to tolerance in terms of ideologies. In my opinion, tolerance is the Netherlands’ greatest contribution to the world.
By the way，with this in the mind, my two books about Marx and Mao Zedong were finally able to publish in the Netherlands.
I also want to emphasize here that the philosophies of Spinoza and Mao Zedong are different from other philosophies in the world. Philosophy is a kind of language about mind and spirit since Plato. But from their standpoint, mind and spirit is only a part of the body, and it is the softest and most fragile, sensitive and variable part of the body.
Spinoza also put forward a well-known idea that mind and spirit is the source of desire, and if people don’t want to be controlled by desire, they need strong and healthy bodies rather than rational mediation. In the same way, if we want to stop the misbehaviors and fighting among people driven by their desires, we can’t depend on the laws of God. Spinoza said, “Nationalize the natural rights to revenge and judge, and give the rights to society. Then society will get the power to regulate the activities of people within it. I don’t mean laws and rationality here, because the effective implement of laws have to rely on penalty rather than rationality. Society that established on the solid power of self-preservation is nation, and people under the protection of nation is citizen.”
In my opinion, Mao became a Marxist through learning the philosophy of Spinoza rather than Lenin. And most biographies of Mao in the world incline to agree with the later.
When he was twenty six years old，Mao Zedong published his first academic paper in the magazine “New Youth”, the title of which is “A Study of Physical Education.” In the paper, he put forward the idea “Strengthen the physique and civilize the spirit”. At that time, advanced people in China are all studying the issue of mind and spirit, such as the national spirit of the Chinese, but Mao insisted that mind and spirit is only a part of the body, and only strong and healthy body can help people overcome their desires. Of course, he learned the philosophy from Spinoza.
Mao didn’t just talk, but really lived up to it. In his youth, Mao and his two classmates read and exercised beside the Xiang River during summer vacation. Stripped to the waist, they stood in violent storms, heavy rains and burning sun，and Mao called it “a shower in the rain"“a shower in the sun”. He wrote in his diary then “If you struggle together with nature, the joy is endless. If you struggle together with the earth, the joy is endless. If you struggle together with people, the joy is endless, too.”
Mao Zedong said later that only with a strong and healthy body was he able to finish the Long March.
When he was seventy years old, Mao Zedong swam in the Yangtze river again. He called on the communists to walk into the violent storms and waves to get rid of the dirt and decay in their bodies.
Spinoza said, “It’s impossible for people to be separated from nature and violate the common order of nature.” Spinoza and Mao Zedong provided a kind of outlook of nature which was quite different from that of Darwin. From the standpoint of Darwin, the resource is limited, so people can only obtain most resources through brutal competitions. But in Mao’s opinion, this view of nature only provide a pretext for the social policy under the principle of “Every man for himself, and the devil takes the hindmost.”
From the view of Mao Zedong, the relationship between all things in nature is stimulation, devotion and cooperation. Freedom means cooperation rather than competition. In his youth, he wrote in the poetry” Eagles cleave the air, Fish glide under the shallow water; Under freezing skies a million creatures contend in freedom". In his mind, people can benefit most from the behavior they help others. He also wrote, “The destination of humans is self-actualization. And self-actualization means to give full play to their physical and mental potentials. We can only achieve this through activities, and the activities rely on all kinds of social organizations. "
Mao Zedong is 1.84m tall, and he is higher than his contemporaries in china. But according to the standard of the Dutch, he is of medium height. In his later years, Mao told Kissinger, “I want to swim in the Mississippi river, just to swim as a tourist. " If Mao was still alive, I couldn’t imagine what he would feel when he knew a book about him was published in the Netherlands. But I believe he must like the Netherlands very much. It’s not only because he is a loyal reader of Spinoza, but also because what he love most is wind, ocean and violent storms. He loved to swim and navigate in the violent storms all his life.
Mao Zedong wrote in his youth, “Strong storms sweep the sea, great waves unfold on a magnificent scale. People who board on the boat take it as great sight. The waves of life and death is greater, isn’t it? "
In his later years, when Mao met with Japan premier Tanaka Kakuei, he said “I’m going to meet Marx” ,which frightened Tanaka Kakuei. He knew Mao hinted that he was going to die. Tanaka Kakuei didn’t know how to answer it, so he said, “It’s impossible.” Mao answered with a smile on his face, “Yes, Marx is going to hold a academic meeting to discuss about the future of humans. I received his invitation card and will attend the meeting there.”
I guess may be at that time Spinoza’s words came to his mind, “A free man thinks of nothing less than of death; and his wisdom is a meditation not of death, but of life.”
And what is life? In my mind, life means to bravely confront the unknown world. Life means to grow up in the violent storms and waves.
Thank you!