Chapter 2-4 N-Dimensional Space

"Seeing a mountain as a mountain, seeing water as water;

Seeing a mountain not as a mountain, seeing water not as water;

Seeing a mountain still as a mountain, seeing water still as water."

— Qingyuan Xingsi, Song Dynasty

When explaining dimensions, Teacher Liu Feng uses projection as an analogy. He says: "A lower dimension is a projection of a higher dimension." One dimension is a projection of two dimensions. For example, a photograph is a projection that appears as a line in one dimension, and in one dimension, this line is unique. Two dimensions are a projection of three dimensions. For instance, a portrait is a projection of a person, and in two dimensions, this three-dimensional projection is unique. If this reasoning holds, then three dimensions are a projection of four dimensions.

Figure 2.6: Lower dimension is a projection of a higher dimension

As three-dimensional beings, we can only see the unique projection (or cross-section) of the four dimensions. Therefore, in the three-dimensional world, we cannot see the past or the future; we can only see the present you, me, others, and the world at this moment (Figure 2.6).

In the two-dimensional world, ants that are obsessed with food cannot know that they are being observed or that they are about to face a disaster. As three-dimensional beings, we believe that what we see and experience is "unique". However, from a higher-dimensional perspective, this might just be an "illusion", which is what Buddhism refers to as "attachment to appearances". People can easily become slaves to their attachments: those who love money become money-making machines; those who are attached to emotions become slaves to their feelings. Only when we elevate our awareness and enter higher dimensions can we look back at our three-dimensional selves and realize that it was all "drawing water with a bamboo basket"—a futile effort. This is the realization of "seeing a mountain not as a mountain and seeing water not as water."

When we understand that all three-dimensional presentations are projections of our inner cognition and resolve to remove these inner obstacles, we can stand in higher dimensions and directly rewrite reality by transforming our inner selves. This leads to the understanding of "seeing a mountain still as a mountain and seeing water still as water."

In three-dimensional space, our understanding of life is clear and straightforward, encompassing the entire process from birth to death. Yet, each person's life unfolds differently—some are joyful and successful, while others suffer or lead uneventful lives—comprising the myriad forms of existence. Upon entering higher-dimensional space and looking back at life in this world, everything becomes clearer and simpler. Many events we believe occur sequentially and improbably are, from the perspective of higher dimensions, predestined or inevitable.

Similarly, four dimensions are the projection of five dimensions, five dimensions are the projection of six dimensions... What would they be like?

Consider the same ant and a piece of paper. If we place the ant at one end of the paper and food at the other end, the ant would need to travel the entire length of the paper to reach the food. However, what if we roll the paper into a cylinder? This cylinder is a three-dimensional object (volume), and the ant only needs to cross the seam of the paper (the so-called "wormhole") to reach its destination. This illustrates that bending two-dimensional space results in three-dimensional space.

If time is the most mysterious variable in the known universe, let's speculate about spaces beyond the fourth dimension.

 (The following is purely imaginative)

From zero to three dimensions, we follow the progression of point, line, plane, and volume. In the fourth, fifth, and sixth dimensions, this progression is repeated. The difference is that the "object" in three dimensions becomes the starting "point" (projection) of the next cycle. In the fourth dimension, we can traverse the "line" (timeline).

In the fourth dimension, time can bend (fold) freely, allowing us to see the past and the future, but we cannot change them. This means that the fourth dimension adds a timeline to each individual, where neither the past nor the future can be altered. To give a concrete analogy: in one-dimensional space, a plant cannot see an ant; in two-dimensional space, an ant cannot see humans; in three-dimensional space, humans cannot see ghosts; in the fourth dimension, ghosts can see humans but cannot revert to change the past and future.

To elaborate further, in four-dimensional space, imagine yourself seated at the center of a spherical mirror. When you look in all directions, you see reflections of yourself (everything external that we see is just our projection). The mirror reflects numerous mirrored images, each layer representing you from a different angle and distance.

In the fourth dimension, we can instantly reach any point on the "timeline", simultaneously seeing ourselves in the past, present, and future. However, there is only one timeline. For example, if you are born, study hard, graduate from high school, enter university, graduate, and become a teacher, the fourth dimension allows you to see yourself along this timeline from birth to becoming a teacher. From the perspective of the fourth dimension, you can look back at each process in life, or they can all appear before you simultaneously.

This can explain why, during near-death experiences, souls can "see" scenes from their past, like watching a movie. It also explains the saying "in the mirror of the underworld, no good person exists", as every thought and action that people believe to be unnoticed by gods is clearly recorded in higher dimensions.

Now, based on the four-dimensional timeline, if we add one (or more) timeline(s) that intersect with the original timeline (the intersecting lines form a "plane"), a five-dimensional space emerges.

 

In a five-dimensional space, since the timelines overlap (or intersect), you can see different outcomes in the future based on different choices. Returning to this example, if after graduating from middle school, you chose not to attend high school and university, but instead went directly into business and later became a businessman, in the four-dimensional space, you would see yourself on the timeline of running a business. However, in the five-dimensional space, you can simultaneously see yourself as a teacher and as a businessman. Therefore, a being in five-dimensional space can see everything that happens in four-dimensional space, all of a person's choices, and all the results of those choices.

Knowing that these choices lead to different outcomes, you can move along the four dimensions, change the choices in the four-dimensional space to achieve different results. When you change your current choice, you might step onto a different timeline, and the future outcome will also change. This seems like every choice creates its own causality, generating a completely different timeline and reaching different versions of the future.

This image resembles a "Tree of Life", or it could be called a "Future Tree" (Figure 2.7). The future is not predetermined; it can be changed in the present. Every choice made in the present can lead to completely different results. If you had the opportunity to stand from a higher-dimensional "God's perspective" and see that becoming a teacher would lead to a much better outcome than becoming a businessman, you would undoubtedly choose to become a teacher.  However, these career choices, marriages, families, and other life decisions are crucial as they can alter a person's life trajectory. Hence, it seems that the "heavenly secrets cannot be revealed", all people are compelled by "karma" and the arrangement of the "Law of Causality".

Figure 2.7: 5-dimensional space, different choices have different results

What is the sixth dimension like? Do you remember the example of Mr. Ant and how to upgrade from two dimensions to three dimensions?  Yes, by bending two-dimensional space, we move from "planes" to "volumes".

In the five-dimensional space, any change can bring about different results, but you cannot ensure that all your efforts to change the past will lead to an ideal goal because the passage of time is still needed. However, in the sixth dimension, you don't need to wait for time; you can directly "walk through the seams" to reach the result. This means you don't need to make choices or go through your life journey; you can choose to directly go to the path most beneficial to your destiny and directly experience the outcome. You can go back to your middle school self, directly choose the path of attending high school and university, and directly become a teacher.

What about the seventh dimension? In the context of the seventh dimension, the possibilities of the previous six-dimensional space become a "point," and the seventh dimension can instantly reach countless points in the sixth dimension. Returning to the previous example, after graduating from middle school, you wouldn't have only two choices but nearly infinite ones. Each decision you make shapes a unique version of you, so you can become any version of yourself. In other words, if your birth is a starting point, all timelines radiate outward from this point, with an infinite number of them. Ultimately, the seventh dimension may contain infinite possibilities that begin after your birth.

In the eighth dimension, you may not even be "you" anymore; you inherently contain infinitely many possibilities, all intersecting with the versions of you in the seventh dimension ("lines" intersect to form "planes"). The "planes" of the eighth dimension, when curved, can become the ninth dimension ("volume").

Finally, in the ninth dimension, all possibilities within the eighth dimension can be instantly known and reached. This dimension, both a "body" and conceivable as a "point," encompasses all the information in the universe, containing all timelines and all possible planes, everything in totality. This concept is called "holography". As the saying goes, "One flower, one world; one leaf, one Bodhi." The entire universe exists in a state of "infinitely large and infinitely small." We will elaborate on this later.

Regarding how many dimensions the universe actually has, opinions vary. Some believe there are thirteen dimensions (according to Bilibili), while Buddhism speaks of thirty-three heavens. Since we, existing in three dimensions, cannot use technological means to detect how many dimensions the universe has, we only need to understand our own position.

From another perspective, what is the most fundamental difference between three dimensions and other dimensions? Personally, I feel it is time. With the passage of time, people can better "experience" life and feel emotions, rather than instantly reaching and seeing everything as in higher dimensions. This might explain why there are so many stories of "immortals descending to the mortal world" throughout history—not just to do good deeds, but more to "experience" the warmth and coldness of human life.

As everyone knows, practice is the only criterion for testing truth. More precisely, three-dimensional practice tests three-dimensional truth, and higher-dimensional practice tests higher-dimensional truth. We have written our three-dimensional understanding into textbooks, but because we cannot perceive higher dimensions, related phenomena become "mysticism." When we try to understand the universe solely through the five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—we are essentially confining ourselves to a very narrow three-dimensional space. The biggest problem modern science faces is precisely the attempt to solve all higher-dimensional problems using three-dimensional methods. Suppose someone manages to "connect" or "sense" higher dimensions and acquires "higher-dimensional" knowledge that seems incredible in the three-dimensional world. In that case, it would be absurd to try to disprove it using three-dimensional logic. The unknown is not synonymous with the mysterious; mysticism is not mystical but rather the logic behind the physical properties of things (see Chapter 1). It's just that humanity cannot yet fully understand it with current means.