In general, people all long for wealth, longevity or certain magical power. But, in the long run, it is very difficult to say whether these are really good for a practitioner or an ordinary individual. You are all familiar with the story of Devadatta. If he had not had supernatural power, he would not have committed two of the Five Great Offenses leading to the avici hell. He subjugated the king with his supernatural power, convincing the king of his might and to obey his words. Together, they committed a great deal of the offenses that led to the avici hell. 

- Quote from The Right View, "Liberating Living Beings"

It is also very important to place the texts of ‘liberation upon wearing’, such as the Tantra, Single Heir of the Doctrine, on the head of the beings to bless them. Beings touched by this will soon be able to attain liberation. One may question, “These beings have neither practiced nor received transmissions of the Dharma. Why should they be able to attain liberation simply by attaching such texts to their body or being touched by it?” The only plausible explanation would be the inconceivable power of the Buddha’s skillful means to deliver sentient beings from suffering. 

- Quote from The Right View, "Liberating Living Beings"

It is stated in the sutras that every participant in the liberation of living beings will gather the full amount of merit thereof. For example, if one hundred people were to kill one person, this bad karma would not be divided among the hundred but borne completely by each one. The same goes for virtuous deeds. If one hundred people were to set one life free, everyone would collect the whole merit of freeing one life, not just one percent of it. Over the years, we have freed billions of lives in this part of China and all the merit accumulated thus far belongs to every participant. Just liberating living beings is already an incredibly virtuous practice. When it is conducted together with unselfish motivation and proper dedication, it will garner even more inconceivable merit which undoubtedly can purify all our negative karma.

- Quote from The Right View, "Liberating Living Beings"

We may also encounter difficulties when liberating beings, e.g., extreme weather conditions, fatigue, insect bites, interferences from others, etc. When these happen, we should contemplate that they are there to purify our negative karma. Or, we can practice the teachings of The Way of the Bodhisattvas to exchange our own well-being for other’s suffering. That is, we willingly endure all the hardship and inconveniences on behalf of other beings. It may seem just a small sacrifice on our part, but great merit can be accumulated this way as well. Therefore, we should practice patience with all physical discomfort and hardship. By the same token, when others make unreasonable demands on us or cause outright trouble, we should neither argue nor be angry with them, just accept their behavior with equanimity. This is the perfection of patience.

- Quote from The Right View, "Liberating Living Beings"

Firstly, recite the various Buddha’s names or other mantras to the beings about to be released. According to the scriptures, these beings will be greatly benefited upon hearing the Buddha’s names and mantras. Also make sure that every one of them can hear the recitations. If we recite from afar and dedicate the merit to them afterward, they can be benefited somewhat but cannot obtain specifically the merit of hearing the Buddha’s names because they did not hear the recitations. If we recite within their hearing range, the merit they will receive are twofold: first, they will be the beneficiaries of our dedication; second, by the merit of hearing the Buddha’s names and mantras, they can attain liberation from samsara. It does not mean that liberation can be attained in their next life, which ultimately depends on how serious their respective karmic hindrances are, but it should not take too long.

- Quote from The Right View, "Liberating Living Beings"

What is the ideal number of beings to be liberated each time? Given the right conditions, it should be as many as possible. With limited amount of money, the smaller the size of the beings, the bigger the quantity that can be bought. That means more lives can be saved and helped to attain liberation. On the other hand, liberating larger animals such as yaks and sheep or larger fish like silver carp are also meaningful. We can plainly see that these beings generally endure more pain when being killed due to their larger body. As we help them avoid this immense fear and pain, we also gather greater merit at the same time. The Abhidharma-kosha-shastra said so too. For example, which is a greater evil, killing an ant or an ox? Although they are both living beings, the dying pain of an ant is not as enormous as that of an ox, relatively speaking. Due to the large size of the body, animals like yaks and sheep suffer more physical pain when they die. It is therefore a relatively greater evil to kill large animals.

- Quote from The Right View, "Liberating Living Beings"

Still others may wonder why the Buddha could not liberate all sentient beings with the same skillful means. The sutras said that for beings to encounter ‘liberation upon wearing’ or Bardo Thotrol (Liberation through Hearing in the Bardo), they must have had certain causes and conditions occurred in their prior lives. What does it mean by past causes and conditions? For example, one can learn Vajrayana, the Great Perfection, or listen to profound teachings such as the Tantra, Single Heir of the Doctrine in this life, but may still take rebirth in the lower realms due to improper practice or broken vows. In that case, after being in the lower realms for a very long time, one may ultimately be saved not by the exoteric practices but that of the supreme Vajrayana rather effortlessly. This is because one has previously planted the good seeds of being exposed to the Vajrayana teachings and thus accumulated the merit that eventually allows one to be liberated by the inexplicable power of liberation through hearing or upon wearing. So, it is not a given that all sentient beings would have the same merit or same encounter.

- Quote from The Right View, "Liberating Living Beings"

How can we be endowed with wisdom when liberating living beings? Being mindful that it is a practice of Mahayana, that it can sow the virtuous seeds for the liberators and benefit the liberated, and that the recitations of sutras, mantras and the Buddha’s names are complete, all exemplify the meaning of having wisdom. The more profound understanding of that is to know the liberator, the liberated and the act of liberation are all illusory phenomena, devoid of self nature. If one were to gain thorough knowledge of such view and subsequently attain realization thereof, it would naturally signify attaining the state of supreme wisdom. But absent this view, wisdom can still be had in the manner otherwise described above.

- Quote from The Right View, "Liberating Living Beings"

Some people think that there are countless fish being sold at the markets and what they can buy is only a fraction of the total. Not even to buy out just one type of fish is possible, much less all the fish. They wonder how meaningful it is to continue liberating lives under the circumstances, and thereby become disenchanted.

The fact is that aspiring to save all the lives in the world is an impossible mission even for the Buddha who can only help those whose karma has ripened and are thus receptive to his teachings. To those with yet ripened karma, the Buddha is equally helpless. The same reasoning also applies to liberating living beings. For someone as wealthy as Indra, the ruler of gods, not even he could have bought and liberated all the beings there were. As there are an infinite number of sentient beings, it could be even beyond the Buddha’s reach sometimes to deliver beings from samsara, let alone what our limited ability can achieve. All we can do is to help other beings the best we know how.

- Quote from The Right View, "Liberating Living Beings"