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The Samurai were the warriors of faudal Japan and protected the Emperor and people of great importance. The term Samurai means 'they who serve'. Each day the Samurai faced death in combat or severe injury, with this knowledge the Samurai would of been under intense stress and anxiety if it had not been for the teachings of Zen.
If the Samurai allowed fear to enter his mind he would not be able to fight at his best with spontanity because of the hesitant feelings it produces. Therefore the Samurai adopted the teachings of Zen ie: emptyness. To accept death is to overcome the fear of it. If the Samurai had a split second to choose between life or death his state of mind was such that he would of chosen death without hesitation.
Zen is described in many ways and students of Zen are given Koans to study (stories to solve to help the students awakening or to test their realization). Zen is a religion based on naturalness, do not dislike or like, just be aware of the feeling. Not to be driven by outside influences such as greed, money or anger. To accept the natural flow of things and move with them, to be natural in your thoughts. If the mind focuses on one thing it cannot be aware of anything else, therefore do not focus on one thing, but be aware of all things.
Let the mind move through it's thought process naturally, don't inhibit this process by grasping a thought and hanging on to it. To aquire the Zen mind is very difficult and many people never manage to attain it, it is the search that is important. But if we are aware of our search are we not grasping a thought, inhibiting the mind? Maybe we shouldn't search for these things but just be aware of them then maybe Satori (enlightenment) will come when we least expect it!!!