a dialogue between master and student designed to cut through habitual thought processes and conceptualization to a direct intuition of truth

(Japanese) Questions and answers; short, pithy dialogue between Zen masters and disciples.

A spoken segment in the form of a dialogue. Often a question and answer segment between the shite and the waki.

The Mondo is a recorded collection of dialogues between a pupil and a Roshi (a Zen Buddhist teacher). Zen tradition values direct experience and communication over scriptures. (Some teachers go so far as to instruct their pupils to tear up their scriptures.)