Although in the west, we tend to see the cross as only a symbol of Christianity, the cross is universal, says Huston Smith, scholar of comparative religions. In the west, the cross tends to be vertical, upright, sometimes with Jesus dying on it. In Asia, the cross is typically portrayed horizontally, on the ground. Occasionally mandalas are hung on the walls, but more frequently, they are painted on the ground. Tibetans build room-size butter mandalas for their feast days.
Indian women create mandalas on floors and in courtyards with rice flour.
All Mandalas can be reduced to intersecting horizontal and vertical axes. Each set of intersecting axes forms a plane. So, there could be not just three planes or dimensions, but an infinity of dimensions. And as each arm extends infinitely, all possibilities are present. Everything emanates from the center, where the arms or axes meet.