—The flesh, we may say, becomes the basis of the intellect. It does not itself "have" an intellect. The flesh simply "is." But the flesh does have a personality, a will, of a kind. It grows up as one with, and gives birth to, the intellect. That - is what I am.
Ah, he said. He'd heard it somewhere before, hadn't he. That the human being is composed of three different things. Mind and soul, to which is added the fleshly body. Supposing, then, that the mind resides in the brain, and the soul in the body. That makes her - what? Shiki's essence. Her true character. A personality, "the body", with nothing of Shiki's heart.
Gently, she nodded her head. Ryougi Shiki did.
—Basically, that's how it is.
—"I" am not a personality borne of the intellect. I am the personality of the flesh as such.
—Ultimately, Shiki - he and she could exchange with one another because they held my currency in common. A single foundation governed them both. That is "Ryougi Shiki." You know Ryougi is liangyi, so it stands to reason that two liangyi together make a taiji, doesn't it? That is me. I am that which takes the shape of the taiji, its circular outline.
—They were my creations. Each of them an "I" of the same order as myself. Or, no; since they each possessed a will, an inclination of their own, you could say they were of a higher order than myself. Even if they were different personalities, their lines of thought were one in that they were both essentially the good and evil within "Ryougi Shiki." They originated from me, and concluded with me. Had they not, their differing inclinations should never have been able to coexist.
She giggled. The gaze that now fell across him was more than ever cold and fatal.
—I don't fully understand, he said. You're saying that you are the original pattern, the original model of which Shiki and SHIKI are both derivatives.
—Correct. I am the essence of Ryougi Shiki. The essence which does not appear. Since the fleshly body is indeed unable to "think," and since that is all I am, under normal circumstances I would simply have rotted away in that thoughtless state without ever rising to the surface. Essentially I am just " ". And that which is " " can have neither intellect nor significance. Normally.