Optically pumped lasing of (111) oriented bulk ZnSe grown by seeded physical vapor phase transport (SPVT) technique has been achieved at room temperature under near resonant pumping with the excitation photon energy very close to the fundamental band gap. Laser emission can be seen at a pumping intensity as low as 7 kW/cm2. The lasing mode spacings resulting from the dispersion of the index of refraction for ZnSe in a Fabry–Perot resonator‐like cavity have been observed as well. Our experimental results demonstrate that SPVT ZnSe single crystals have the quality sufficient to develop low‐threshold, high‐power output blue lasers.