Koichi Tohei was Morihei Ueshiba's top student. After Ueshiba's death, the followers separated. Tohei left control of Aikikai to Ueshiba's son, Kisshomaru, and broke off to teach Aikido his own way. His school of Aikido stressed the underlying knowledge of Ki over the physical practices, and I am told that in his later life, he dedicated more and more time to spreading knowledge of Ki. Here is a passage from a book entitled, Ki in Daily Life.
Since the heart of a man praticing ki should be filled with the spirit of love and protection for all things, his spirit should naturally be one of love and benevolence. In addition, because his spirit is always unified and is constantly pouring forth ki, his eyes will have a latent energy, not a sharp hard gleam, but a light that, together with ki, emanates from the very depth of his spirit. This is not the glitter of the thief's eye always seeking the unwary, it is a light that says, "At a laugh, children draw near, but at a frown, wild animals flee." We all need such benevolent powerful eyes.
Among men studying the martial arts, as we might think, some have cruel, savage, and haughty eyes. These eyes, for crushing other people, are not the true eyes of a follower of the martial arts. When eyes like these encounter the true eyes they lose their power to crush. In Japanesse, we write the word budo (the martial way) with a character "bu" made up of two parts which taken together mean to cease using arms. For this reason the true follower of the martial way must have eyes benevolent enough to do away with the opponent's spirit to fight. However sharp the gleam in your eye with which you try to oppress your opponent is, it will have no effect on him. He will not take it in, it will only return to frighten you yourself. People with hard eyes must understand them as a sign of spiritual immaturity and must strive to discipline themselves in the right way. From time to time, in our effort to progress spiritually, we should look in the mirror, not to see how we look or just to shave, but to judge our spiritual condition. We should seek out the bad places and reflect that, "Here is a place where my spirit is still immature."
(...)
Hear what a man says, look into his eyes, and he can hide nothing from you. If you calm your heart, examine yourself, and look at other people you will be able to understand them. On the other hand, understanding too much is not good. Too much discernment is destructive. That is to say, if you understand a person too well, he is likely to feel cramped in your company and avoid you. If you understand too well, it is also easy to injure othhers. A father with an eye that is too penetrating oppresses his children, who grow to want to run away. No one likes the glance that pierces the depths of the soul. Just as we keep covered a blade that cuts well, so if we have a strength we should keep it veiled. Though we have brilliance in our eyes we need not dazzle others with it. If we have that brilliance, we should cover it as if it were not there. A wise hawk hides his talons, and a good mouser does not show her claws. It is important to conceal one's own power, because boasting of it destroys it.
