The way of living means how one goes about sustaining oneself, essentially how one manages to live. What is the proper way of living for a Dharma practitioner? What did the Buddha say about this?

Should all practitioners give up everything and retreat to the caves to meditate like Milarepa did? It would be great if one can do that, but most laypeople cannot and so the Buddha did not rule this way. In a nutshell, the Buddha only asked all Buddhists to be content with fewer desires, which means differently to the monastics and lay practitioners.

- Quote from The Right View, "The Way of Living and the Meaning of Life"

To make every effort not to let the beings hurt during the process is one way. Take fish as an example. Fish might get hurt when they jump out from the containers and land either on top of the containers or on the ground. To roughly grab and quickly throw it into the water, as normally done by some, may cause harm too. Other than birds perhaps, throwing usually gives animals a great sense of fear, which in turn can be detrimental to their mental condition. 

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

Offering of Dharma is particularly important. If we are given two choices: 1) we can release all the fish in the market free of charge on condition that we do not recite the Buddha’s names for them or feed them nectar pills; 2) we can recite mantras, feed them nectar pills and bless them with the text of ‘liberation upon wearing,’ but we cannot buy them to set them free. Which one should we choose? Make sure it is the latter. 

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

According to some surveys, given the same living condition, the level of happiness for those who have faith far exceeds those who have not.

Liberating living beings is the best antidote to karma of killing lives. However, if we liberate beings simply for the purification of our karma, though karma can be purified, it is not the way to practice Mahayana. Whether to liberate beings to purify our own negative karma or, out of bodhicitta, to do it for the sake of all sentient beings is ultimately a personal choice.

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

We have all committed incalculable karma of killing lives since beginningless time. Even so far in this lifetime alone, we have generated enough such karma to send us to the hell realm. And the best way to counteract this karmic effect is to liberate living beings. At the same time, we must also resolve by making a pledge not to intentionally kill or hurt ANY sentient beings ever again. With such determination, all negative karma associated with killing lives will indubitably be purified. In case one’s resolution is not yet as firm, the pledge can be made on account of the selected beings of one’s choice. For example, one can vow never to kill snakes or weather loaches again from now on. When this vow is made and the beings are subsequently freed, one’s specific karma of killing snakes or weather loaches from beginningless time will then be purified, but that of killing other kinds of beings stays.

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

However, real austerity means undertaking to practice with diligence and great patience as well as overcoming all kinds of difficulties without fear. Otherwise, paupers among all people would be the first to reach enlightenment.

- Quote from The Right View, "A Buddhist’s Mode of Life"

From a short-term perspective, the significance of releasing tens of thousands of lives from the suffering of death is already self-evident. There is absolutely no comparison between giving a new life and giving money or other objects to a being facing death. Put in another way, if we are about to be killed, would we like someone to rescue us or give us a lot of money? The answer should be obvious. Realistically, what is the use of money for a dead person? In most cases, the relatives and the friends of the deceased do not really know how to use the money left behind to assist the deceased, e.g., to perform phowa. At the juncture of life and death, money loses its purpose. Saving lives is naturally the most important.

But from a long-term perspective, offering of Dharma is even more important. The reason is that although we can buy the fish free and liberate them, the best we will achieve is to save them from the pain of death just this time. If we do not recite the Buddha’s names or perform other rituals for them, we cannot truly benefit them other than setting them free. What they will do afterwards is anybody’s guess. If the beings are carnivores, perhaps the better alternative is to let them die after having heard the chanting of the Buddha’s names. This on the one hand will plant the virtuous root for them, and on the other hand stop them from committing more negative karma.

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

On the other hand, does it make sense to swear never to kill dinosaurs from now on? You may think that it is meaningless, since there is no dinosaur to be killed even if you want to. But it does make sense still. Dinosaurs once existed, which means we surely had the opportunity to kill some in those lifetimes. As explained above, when such vow is made, one’s karma of ever having killed dinosaurs will be purified, but not those that involved killing of other beings. If we vow not to kill any sentient beings, our karma of killing all kinds of beings can be purified. If the vow is made for the sake of particular beings, our karma of killing those particular beings can be purified.

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