illustration of cause and effect. Wall of hidden foot –Karmavibhangga--

An illustration of cause and effect.

The encasement base of the Borobudur temple was dissembled to reveal the hidden foot, and the reliefs were photographed by Casijan Chepas in 1890.
Source: Guiding Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide

The reliefs on the ‘hidden foot’ are devoted to the inevitable law of karma. The 160 panels do not relate a continuous story, but each provides one complete illustration of cause and effect.

The first 117 panels show various actions producing one and the same result, while the remaining 43 demonstrate the many results that can follow from one kind of act. Blame worthy activities, from gossip to murder, with their corresponding purgatorial punishments, and praise worthy activities, like charity and pilgrimages to sanctuaries, and their subsequent rewards, are both shown.

The wall of hidden base Karmawibanggha
Source: Guiding Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide

The pains of hell and the pleasures of heaven, and scenes of daily life are represented in a full panorama of samsara, the endless cycle of birth and death, the chain of all those forms of delusional existence from which Buddhism brings release. During the restoration, the foot encasement was reinstalled, covering the Karmawibhangga reliefs. Today, only the southeast corner of the hidden foot is revealed for visitors. 

One of the Karmawibanggha panel relief
Source: Guiding Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide

Source : Guiding Technique Candi Borobudur by Aris guide