What is the difference between zazen and meditation?

I am often asked the question, “What is the difference between zazen and meditation?”

I answer that zazen and meditation are similar to the relationship between baseball and sports.

What I mean is that it is easier to understand if you think of zazen as a technique within meditation, just as baseball is a game within a sport.

Sports include baseball, soccer, swimming, marathon running, and all other sports.

Similarly, meditation includes zazen, yoga, mindfulness, vipassana, and many other meditation methods.

So the question, “What is the difference between zazen and meditation?” is the same as asking, “What is the difference between sports and baseball? 

Zazen is to meditation as baseball is to sports.

So what is “meditation”? I looked up the word “meditation” on Wikipedia.

Here is what it means...

Meditation is said to be the act of quieting one's mind and becoming mindless, the act of relaxing without thinking, the act of quieting one's mind and praying to God or concentrating one's mind on something, closing one's eyes and thinking deep and quiet thoughts, etc.

The content varies according to religious tradition, stage of practice, purpose, and other factors. This term is used to describe a wide range of practices, from the relatively routine, such as simply restoring the tranquility of mind and body, to those that allow one to experience the Absolute (God) in a realistic way and to attain ultimate wisdom. In modern times, meditation is practiced for a variety of secular purposes, such as improving health, psychological treatment, personal growth, and self-improvement.

From Wikipedia

Many people think of meditation as a specific religious practice. However, if “meditation = quiet concentration and contemplation,” then the presence or absence of religiosity is not necessarily an issue.

In other words, “meditating” is a general human activity, just like “exercising,” “eating,” or “reading,” and does not require special training, certification by a specific organization, or permission to do so.

What I am trying to say is that meditating is not so weird or mysterious. If you have that image, it may be that you just happened not to have had enough contact with the word meditation to explore its meaning, as I myself did.

You don't need someone's permission to try meditating. Unless you want to learn a particular way to meditate, you don't even need to worry about whether you are doing it right or wrong.

You can start by taking some time to “quiet your mind, concentrate, and think” at your own pace, like jogging or reading a book.

You will notice many things that you never imagined. Tosei Shinabe