The Zeroth Dimension

“The zero-dimensional hypersphere is a pair of points.”
— Wikipedia

What does it mean to have dimension?

For dimension to occur, there must be difference. Each type of difference creates a dimension. We commonly speak of three or four dimensions when referring to space or spacetime. These dimensions orient our apparent sense of being — we are here, at this time. Yet these are merely spatial or temporal dimensions. The mind creates dimensions wherever it perceives difference: brightness (light vs. dark), sound (loud vs. soft), or feeling (pleasant vs. unpleasant).

To experience zero dimension, there must be universal sameness — total lack of distinction. In Abhidhamma terms, this is equanimity (upekkhā), which, alongside one-pointedness (ekaggatā), remains in the highest stages of jhāna. We can attempt to imagine what awareness would be like if all we perceived was sameness. Without distinction, no barriers remain. Our senses would no longer notice dualistic contrasts such as light and dark, contact and non-contact, or even differentiate seeing from hearing. Awareness would be singular, unable to distinguish any single thing, yet infinite, as nothing blocks its scope.

This awareness is referred to as The Treasury of Natural Perfection — an expression of pure, unfettered awareness akin to what some traditions might describe as divine omniscience. Lacking distinction, this awareness is eternal, ceaseless, arising from nowhere, and going nowhere. It is the “substance” of one of the three Buddha bodies — the Dharmakāya.

Duality, born of distinction, cannot exist at this deepest level. The absence of distinction pulls awareness away from focused attention on individual objects. Yet if the mind focuses on sameness, it fails to find any object, and in this pristine emptiness, awareness becomes infinite. There is no adequate way to describe this experience; one must use the mind’s eye to extrapolate the consequences of being aware of only sameness to appreciate its magnitude.

Being zeroth-dimensional, it cannot be perceived in any ordinary dimension, yet it perceives all. In our dimension, it expresses itself as a pair of points, upon which our senses and experiences are built. This duality manifests as good and bad. For us, the ultimate paradox is the duality of Samsara and Nirvana. The entire spiritual quest is itself a duality — we seek to overcome it, yet remain within it while seeking.

When unenlightened or semi-enlightened, we see enlightenment itself as a dual state: one is either enlightened or not. But at each stage of awakening, the very game changes:

• The Anāgāmī (third grade, Albedo) becomes the indifferent saint: doing right without attachment to outcome. Understanding karma, they live with increasing tranquility, yet still within a subtle duality.
• The Arahant eliminates karma at its root. Samsara becomes Nirvana — not two different places but two different modes of being: ignorance creates Samsara; wisdom creates Nirvana.
• The Buddha transcends even the Samsara/Nirvana duality, dwelling in neither or both. Having fully transcended the Skandhas, the Buddha resides in the Samantabhadra — the All-Good — the zeroth dimension of awareness, empty, pristine, and unfathomable.

This is the ultimate nature of being — formless, timeless, and perfectly present. I hope that was helpful.

“The Tathāgata, O monks, who has fully awakened to that which is to be known, does not dwell upon the known, nor is he deluded by it, for he has crossed over attachment to knowledge itself.”
— Anguttara Nikāya 4.24