Life release

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Life release, also known as merit release, mercy release, fangsheng (from Mandarin Chinese 放生) or prayer animal release, is a Buddhist practise of releasing animals held captive with the presumed intention of saving their lives, if they were destined for slaughter, or of giving them back their freedom, as animals nowadays are commonly sold with the explicit purpose to be released for making merit, along with gaining personal merit, or good luck, by performing the act.^[1] This practise is performed by all schools of Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana.^[2] It is known as "Tsethar" in Tibetan Buddhism.^[3]

With the popularization of environmental protection knowledge in modern times, researchers and some members of religious communities have started to realize that improper life release can damage the ecological environment, cause Invasive species, and lead to the death of released animals that do not adapt to the environment. In order to avoid the harm of improper life release, Buddhist advocate that vegetarianism is the best way of releasing life from the mouth.^[4]