One World Family · Academic Version¶
Abstract¶
"One World Family" (Tianxia Yijia 天下一家) is a central proposition in Lifechanyuan's philosophy of civilization, designating the ultimate form of human culture in which all life transcends the divisions of nation, ethnicity, religion, and family to dwell harmoniously in the universe as a shared home. In the Chanyuan Corpus's Civilization chapter, Qiankun Cao employs a "circulation-systems" analytical framework — drawing on concepts of order, disorder, and thermodynamic cycles — to systematically examine the historical evolution of "home," the structural deficiencies of contemporary civilization, and the "complete circulation model" required to achieve One World Family. In the New Era Human 800 Concepts, this vision is given concrete programmatic expression: "No worthy talent is left in the wilderness; all under heaven are one family."
I. Primary Sources¶
| Text | Author | Date | Nature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chanyuan Corpus · Civilization Chapter · "One World Family" | Qiankun Cao | 2009-6-7 | Systematic essay |
| New Era Human 800 Concepts (4th ed.) · Nos. 627, 701, 708, 715 | Xuefeng | — | Programmatic propositions |
II. Core Concept: The Complete Circulation Model¶
Qiankun Cao grounds the analysis in principles from natural science — entropy production, waste cycling, and nested feedback loops — to argue that any stable system depends on a "complete circulation model": disorder generated internally must be continuously converted back into order by the surrounding system, without being exported to an outside party.
"Home," in this framework, is defined not sentimentally but functionally: a home is the unit within which a life-sustaining circulation operates. The historical forms of home — clan, city-state, empire, nation-state — represent successive expansions of the scope of controllable circulation. The fragmentation of the contemporary world into competing nation-states, religions, and family units reflects the failure to achieve a circulation model that is truly complete.
Realizing One World Family necessarily rests on a controllable and manageable complete circulation model. Depart from this foundation, and One World Family will inevitably fracture into ten thousand separate families … Any theory, however eloquently stated, that cannot realize this complete circulation model is inevitably utopian.
III. Historical Periodization¶
Qiankun Cao traces the evolution of human "home" through three circulation phases:
Phase 1 — Natural circulation (primitive era): Human society depended entirely on existing ecological cycles. The emergence of intellectual leadership groups (who managed large-scale projects such as flood control) gave rise to state power, but because these groups consumed social resources to manage disorder, they inevitably accumulated control, leading to periodic dynastic collapse.
Phase 2 — Industrial artificial circulation: Science and technology enabled humanity to supplement natural cycles with engineered systems — water supply, electricity, sanitation, communications. Living standards rose dramatically, but this system was not "complete": it continuously exported disorder (pollution, ecological degradation) to the external environment, producing the environmental and civilizational crises visible today.
Phase 3 — Complete circulation (New Era goal): Through the cooperation of Lifechanyuan's spiritual dimension (the Second Home) and secular governance's material dimension, a system is built in which all disorder generated by human life is fully internalized and recycled — the realized form of One World Family.
IV. Comparative Analysis¶
| Concept | Tradition | Relationship to "One World Family" |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmopolitanism | Western philosophy | Emphasizes moral theory; lacks the material circulation-systems analysis |
| Datong (Great Harmony) | Book of Rites | Closely aligned in vision; lacks systematic account of realization pathway |
| Communist society | Marxism | Emphasizes transformation of production relations; Lifechanyuan additionally stresses circulation models and soul refinement |
| Utopia | Thomas More | Lifechanyuan explicitly argues: any proposal that cannot achieve the complete circulation model is utopian |
V. Programmatic Expressions¶
The New Era Human 800 Concepts distills One World Family into actionable principles:
- No. 701: "All paths return to one source; all teachings converge; one world, one family; the Great Harmony — this is the keynote of the New Era."
- No. 715: The proper way to relate to society: "No worthy talent is left in the wilderness, and all under heaven are one family" — share blessings, bear hardships together, coordinate globally, share resources.
- No. 708: Reject localism and ethnic nationalism; select leaders from the best of all humanity, not from local populations — "only when no worthy talent is left in the wilderness can all under heaven become one family."
VI. Reinterpretation of the Mahayana Aspiration¶
The essay offers a notable reinterpretation of the Buddhist concept of Mahayana ("great vehicle"):
The aspiration to realize One World Family is the Mahayana aspiration. Mahayana means: all under heaven as one vessel, all who share the vessel as one family. Buddhism has spoken of the Mahayana aspiration without fully spelling out its content. This essay may be said to have done so clearly.
This move extends the Mahayana concept from a framework of individual spiritual liberation into a framework of civilizational construction — a synthesis with cross-cultural significance.