地獄の衆生の叫び声を聞いて動揺した波斯匿王に応え、仏陀が語る話。昔のバーラーナシー王が真夜中に八つの奇妙な物音を聞いて恐怖したが、菩薩がそれらに全く自然な原因があることを示すまでの顛末を伝えるジャータカ。

A Jātaka in which the Buddha, responding to King Pasenadi’s alarm over hearing cries from beings in hell, tells of a former king of Bārāṇasī who heard eight strange midnight sounds that terrified him until the Bodhisatta showed they had entirely natural causes.