How did Buddhism and Shinto influence the samurai?

How did Buddhism and Shinto influence the samurai?

They gave the Samurai another way to be balanced and further the effects of their own Bushido (Warrior's code). Buddhism cleared and disciplined the Samurai's mind and Shinto would give the Samurai a bond to their ancestors and a feeling of pride greater than only being born into a Samurai family. By studying Buddhism and Shinto, Samurai became more disciplined and could have clear minds as well as focus more on their training to fulfill their duties.

Through Zen the Samurai learned to be unafraid of death.

There are a number of levels of influence. Here's one piece of the story:

The Samurai warrior class, when they took political power (Kamakura period) wanted social credibility -- they wanted to look culturally legitimate. One way they did this was to associate themselves with a spiritual tradition. The samurai and shoguns were the new style of power, and they wanted to be associated with a new spiritual tradition, so they picked Zen Buddhism (esp. the Rinzai form of Zen), which had relatively recently come to Japan (during the 13Th century).

They liked its "existential" focus on being present in the moment. They liked the art forms (calligraphy, tea ceremony, archery). And they liked the fact that, like themselves, it was "new" and different from older forms of Buddhism and other spiritual currents already in Japan.

I'm somewhat less knowledgeable about Shinto. In ways, Shinto is less a discrete entity. There are some forms of Shinto organization -- these have tended to be more associated with the Emperor's family and reverence for it (to which the samurai would give a kind of lip service, but in point of fact the samurai families "used" the imperial family as sort of a puppet figurehead). But Shinto is also a kind of loose background for all Japanese culture, linked with appreciation of nature and nature "spirits" (Jami). [It was later revived as the "state religion" by the militarists in the Meiji Era (19Th/ 20Th century).]
.