Be gentle when releasing bugs

I’ve learned this lesson from my 7-year-old daughter. As I have released little bugs in my house, my daughter and husband start doing the same thing. I even say the triple jewels and recite the Amitabha Buddha 3 times before releasing them, and my daughter takes this habit after me. However, she is even more gentle with them than I do. I have a habit of blowing the bugs out of my hand, and when she sees that, she’d tell me, “Mom, you’ve hurted them, no one wants to be thrown down like that.” I often end up apologizing to the bugs and her. Not only she corrects me, but my daughter actually models her words. When she released them, she would put her hand on the ground and let them crawl down gently from her hands or the soft art brittle brush. Moreover, when she sees the tiniest bugs or spiders, she calls for me to take them out gently because she is afraid that she’d kill them. I am glad that we teach each other the lesson of compassion.