The Long Āgama Sūtra 7.63

7.63

迦葉復言：「諸有智者，以譬喻得解，我今復當為汝引喻。乃往過去久遠世時，有一國壞，荒毀未復，時，有商賈五百乘車經過其土，有一梵志奉事火神，常止一林。時，諸商人皆往投宿，清旦別去，時，事火梵志作是念言：『向諸商人宿此林中，今者已去，儻有遺漏可試往看。』尋詣彼所，都無所見，唯有一小兒始年一歲，獨在彼坐。梵志復念：『我今何忍見此小兒於我前死？今者寧可將此小兒至吾所止，養活之耶！』即抱小兒往所住處而養育之，其兒轉大，至十餘歲。

Kāśyapa again said, “Those who are wise explain things with parables. Now, I’ll explain this for you with a story. Long, long ago, there was a country that was destroyed. It had yet to recover from the devastation when a merchant caravan of five hundred carts passed through that land.

“There was a wanderer who worshipped the fire spirit who always stayed in the grove where those merchants stopped for the night. When they departed the next morning, the fire-worshipping wanderer thought, ‘Those merchants who were staying in this grove may have left some effluent as they departed. I’ll go check to see.’ He quickly went to where they had stayed, but he saw nothing but a one-year-old child sitting there by himself.

“The wanderer then thought, ‘Now, how could I bear to see this small child die in front of me? It would be better to take the child to my home and nurture him!’ The wanderer picked up the child and took it to his abode where he raised him. The child grew up and was over ten years old.