Life Release

Received a video of Megan and Luke picking fish out of a bucket and throwing them into the river. In the background you can hear Carey repeating some chant. Seen them do this before and knew it was a Buddhist thing but wanted to know more - where would we be without Google? Anyway, it is summed up below, a rather nice gesture to my mind.

life release is a Buddhist tradition of saving lives of animals that are destined to be killed. Although every life is precious, the fact of being alive inevitably causes taking lives of other beings. We cannot completely prevent this situation because as long as we walk, breath, eat, and so forth, we cause deaths of many creatures. However we can cultivate mindfulness, and try to reduce taking lives to the best of our ability. We can also offer a gift of life and protection through the practice of Life Release.