If you have many ants in your house, and you’re careless, you will kill them. With a soft tissue paper, soft piece of cotton, broom, or feather, pick them up and put them in a plastic bag with some food in it. Use some food that they like, something they’re excited about or fascinated by, and then close the bag and take it around a stupa or holy objects as many times as you can. This will liberate them from a lower rebirth and help them achieve liberation and enlightenment. The holy objects can be set up on a table, and then you can walk around the table with the ants. Then, put the ants outside, opening the plastic bag to release them, or shaking them onto the ground with the food.

The only way you can help ants and other insects in this way is if they come into your house. This is an excellent opportunity to benefit them. You are also being charitable by giving them food.

If you take them around a stupa or holy objects, you are offering them the charity of Dharma. By purifying their minds, you are saving them from suffering.