VIDEO: A Buddhist Lesson in Dealing With Life's Stresses

Nothing is permanent in life but change. Whether transitioning to a New Year and another decade, navigating a new job or coping with a life event such as the birth of a child, a marriage or a bereavement, Buddhists believe that it's important to remind ourselves that nothing in life is ever the same.

At late last month, a group of Tibetan Buddhist monks from India led by Gala Rinpoche spent five days building a spectacular "Conflict-Resolution Buddha Mandala" from grains of sand. The exercise, which Buddhist monks repeat worldwide in different forms, was a symbolic demonstration of the idea that even life's deepest wounds are not permanent and that it's possible to heal them by being mindful not about the past—or the future—but about every present moment.

As New Year resolutions go—and yes, we have all of January to make them—what can be more positive than the determination to deal with the stresses in our day-to-day lives, including holiday stress, with the traditional Buddhist virtues of equanimity, compassion and wisdom?

The Buddhist monks, who were brought to Oxy by the Office of Residential Education, built the mandala in the Rangeview Hall dormitory, where students observed them at work during the day as well as at night. The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, Residential Education, and other departments at Occidental College sponsored the program.

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