Tendai and Zen both spring from Mahāyāna roots and share a passion for meditation, yet each carves out its own path. At their heart, both schools prize direct experience over blind faith, believing that awakening isn’t earned through scholarship alone but lived moment by moment.

Similarities
• Meditation as cornerstone: Tendai’s shikan (calm–insight) practice and Zen’s zazen sit side by side in the temple hall.
• Mahāyāna vision: Compassion for all sentient beings and the bodhisattva ideal pulse through both traditions.
• Lineage respect: Teachers pass down teachings face-to-face, ensuring continuity and authenticity.

Differences
• Doctrinal buffet vs. single-dish focus: Tendai embraces the full spectrum of sutras—Lotus Sūtra front and center, supported by esoteric rituals and Pure Land chants. Zen, by contrast, opts for the minimalist route: drop the scriptures, sit still and let the mind bloom.
• Ritual complexity: Grand Tendai ceremonies—featuring mandalas, chanting and goma fire offerings—contrast sharply with Zen’s stripped-down aesthetics (think tatami mats, minimal décor).
• Method variety vs. one pointed approach: Tendai often combines mantra, mudrā, visualizations and philosophical study. Zen bets everything on zazen and, in Rinzai, the occasional koan to crack open ordinary thought.
• Scholastic vs. spontaneous: Tian­tai philosophy encourages rigorous study of doctrinal classifications; Zen celebrates sudden insight—like a bolt of lightning illuminating the entire sky.

Recent trends highlight their complementarity. Mindfulness apps draw heavily on Zen’s simplicity, while virtual Tendai retreats (a nod to post-pandemic life) offer a smorgasbord of practices for modern stress relief. In the end, both traditions invite a direct taste of awakening—one through a rich buffet of methods, the other via a single, potent brew.