Life-releasing means to respect life, to ensure that sentient beings live without fear, and to give them a safe environment to reside in. The best examples of life-releasing are not to fish at a riverbank, not to torture animals, and not to kill life or harm the environment.

In Buddhism, which emphasizes humanity, life-releasing also includes “releasing people,” which is to give others a way out. Working for the happiness of others by giving faith, joy, hope, and convenience is proactive life-releasing. This also includes when we help others find a way out of difficult situations, provide relief aid, and give others causes and conditions.

There is a saying, “whether sentient or non-sentient, all will attain the Buddha’s wisdom.” Every inanimate object such as a stem of flower, a blade of grass, a table, a chair, or a piece of carpet has life; and should be well preserved and utilized to prolong its lifespan and to give value to it. Such is the Buddhist perspective on life-releasing.

For those who are practicing the act of life-releasing nowadays, they must be careful with whether their actions are in fact causing death.

Who is to speak of the insignificance of animal lives;
They are just the same flesh and bones.
You are urged not to shoot the spring birds,
For the nesting babies await their mother’s return.

── from Bainian Fo Yuan
(Buddhist Affinities Across 100 Years)

Grieve for the falling leaves;
The leaves fall, fall to make spring.

Every year, the leaves fly away and still there are leaves.
Every year people depart, leaving fewer people;
Upon the rouge there are fresh tears.

Grieve for the falling leaves;
The leaves fall, never to return.

Though they return, flowers cover the trees,
The new branches are not the ones in the past;
Slowly the water flows away.

── from Zhonghua Shici
(Chinese Classical Poetry)