For the purposes of this essay, I have chosen to expand my forum post for reading about Buddhist nuns and the difficulties they face due to the institutionalized misogyny present in Buddhist traditions. I chose this topic of wimmin in Buddhism because I am also interested in wimmin as my main academic focus, and so I found this topic one of the most interesting in the course so far. I believe it is particularly important to think about the roles of wimmin in Buddhism and, more importantly, why they occupy – and have – occupied these roles, both historically and as they continue to do so. do so in current times, due to the simple fact that they are undeniably important members of communities, but culturally normalized negative attitudes towards them have often suggested otherwise. In the chapter on Being a Buddhist Nun: The Struggle for Enlightenment in the Himalayas that was assigned in class, Gutschow does go well beyond the issue of the unequal distribution of power within the clerical hierarchy. It focuses on how this hierarchy has historically exercised its power, both by granting power and using exclusionary tactics such as recognition and acceptance (Gutschow 168-169). Although ordination is and has been possible for nuns of different schools of Buddhism, the question of the opportunities available (“Having been ordained by the bhikshuni sangha, she [a novice] must then appear before a quorum (at least less than ten members) of the local chapter of bhikshu and redo the entire ceremony, after which she is recognized as a bhikshuni having received the double ordination of the two sanghas" ​​(Barnes 262)) is extremely urgent. What is important in this problem, however, is to locate the motivation... middle of paper...... entirely mythical and mystical, and which then unconsciously altered and exoticized it as a kind of paradise. Resetting my own Western perceptions of white women is difficult to do, and I'm disappointed that I didn't notice my mistake until I did; however, going from there and simply looking at the question itself, I find myself differently conflicted about Buddhism itself, for the reasons I have presented. There are too many layers and facets of Buddhism to count, and I certainly can't expect to completely understand any part of it yet. Even so, the struggle to reconcile what I thought were even the most fundamental Buddhist principles with the glaring inequalities in the habits of the sangha is one that I think I only hope to complete with further research into the different ways of dealing with the question (of wimmin) in the commonly accepted canons and commentaries.