A dojo is the place where we practice the Way - zazen. It's a simple, quiet place. Zen has never been practiced alone, there has always been transmission from master to disciple - I shin den shin (from mind to mind) - and always in the sangha, the community of practitioners. Master Deshimaru used to compare dojo practice to fire: the more wood you put on, the stronger the fire is. In the dojo we help each other mutually, so we can practice strongly and be able to abandon ourselves. If we follow the rules of the dojo and behave in the correct way, we have already put aside a part of our ego, which controls all our everyday actions. Master Dogen says: "To study Zen is to study ourselves; to study ourselves is to forget ourselves; to forget ourselves is to find our Buddha-nature, our original nature."