西铁塔
The West Iron Pagoda
西铁塔筑于南汉大宝六年（963），由南汉后主刘鋹（chǎng）的太监与其弟子出资铸造。这座铁塔初成时，全塔涂以金箔，因此有“涂金千佛塔”之称。其塔基为石刻莲花底座。塔身上的盘龙纹饰，则有敦煌飞天的造型风格。
The West Iron Pagoda was built in 963 A.D. or the sixth year of Dabao Reign of the Southern Han Dynasty. It was donated by the emperor's eunuch and his disciple.In the early time after its construction, it was fully covered with gold foil. That's why it was called "Gilded Pagoda of One Thousand Buddhas".It has a stone-carved lotus base with dragon ornaments on the body part that resemble the style of flying Apsaras in Dunhuang.
塔身四面1000尊浮雕小佛像，又都充分彰显出唐代遗风。这座原高6.5米的铁塔，从莲花底座往上，原有7层方形塔身。可惜，在清代顺治年间曾有一部分毁于炮火。抗战时期又因台风吹塌房屋，压坏了4层，现仅存底座以上的3层。另外，原来曾有一座塔殿覆盖在铁塔之上，称为西塔殿。
There are 1,000 small reliefs of Buddhas on four sides of the pagoda with a prominent style of the Tang Dynasty.Above the base of lotus, there used to be a quadrular body part, 6.5 meters in height, with 7 stories.Unfortunately, it was partially damaged by gunfire during the Reign of Emperor Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty.And during the Anti-Japanese War, four stories were crushed by a falling building in a typhoon. Only three stories above the base have been preserved till this day.Besides, there used to be a hall housing the pagoda, called the Hall of West Pagoda.
东铁塔
The East Iron Pagoda
光孝寺现存的另一座东铁塔，在东塔殿内，形制与西铁塔相同，然而更加完整。这座东铁塔，是南汉后主刘鋹在西铁塔建成4年之后，即南汉大宝十年（967），令内侍监李托奉敕监铸。
Here in this hall stands the East Iron Pagoda. Similar to the West one in structure, this pagoda, however, is undamaged.It was built four years later after the completion of the West Iron Pagoda under the command of Liu Chang, the last emperor of Southern Han Dynasty in the year 967A.D..He ordered Li Tuo, the official of imperial palace service, to supervise the casting.
塔高6.35米，造型与西铁塔相似：塔基的莲花底座上有精美的二龙戏珠纹饰，下有石刻须弥座。七层方形塔身上，那些千佛浮雕像也与西铁塔相仿，可证这塔确是仿照西铁塔建造的。
It is 6.35 meters high and similar in shape to the West Iron Pagoda: its lotus base is decorated with exquisite patterns of two dragons playing with a pearl, under which is a stone-carved Sumeru base. There are also 1,000 mid-relief Buddha statues on the 7-story quadrangular body part, proving that this pagoda was indeed modeled after the West one.
不过，这个东铁塔佛龛内的小佛像的工艺不仅更为精致，而且还带有鲜明的异域风格，属于中印艺术风格的合璧之作。要说它与西铁塔略有不同处，就是它的每层塔檐多了一层专刻龙纹。东铁塔保留较为完整，这个塔殿历代多有重修，现存塔殿为清乾隆二年（1737）重修的。
However, the craft of the small Buddha statues in the niches of this pagoda is more exquisite, with a distinctive exotic style out of an integration of Chinese and Indian artistic features. And what makes it substantially different from the West Iron Pagoda must be the unique carved dragon patterns on the eaves of each storey .The East Iron Pagoda remains relatively intact, and its hall has been rebuilt over the ages. The existing hall was rebuilt in 1737 or the second year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty.
光孝寺保存的这两座铁塔的铸工非常精致，证明了一千年前中国人已掌握了高超的铸造技术和造型艺术，其设计特色，又印证了中国文化深受外来文化的影响，并不断将其融入本土文化中。
The two iron pagodas are delicate in casting and modeling, two technologies well applied by the Chinese for more than one thousand years ago.The design of these Buddhist relics shows how Chinese culture was deeply influenced by external cultures and also how, in turn, it localized them.
东铁塔殿内碑刻
Inscriptions in the Hall of East Iron Pagoda
在东塔殿内，还保存有一批宋至清的碑刻，其中有一些碑刻内容直接反映了中外文化的交流。比如：明万历四十年（1612）的《光孝寺重修六祖菩提碑记》。
Inside the Hall of East Iron Pagoda, there are a number of inscriptions from the Song Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, some of which have recorded cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.For example, on the stele there is the Inscription on the Restoration of the Sixth Patriarch's Bodhi at Guangxiao Temple, which was carved in 1612 or the 40th Year of the Wanli Reign in the Ming Dynasty.
在碑的上端，刻有讲涅槃经法师印宗和住持比邱法才共同撰写的碑文，下端，则刻有菩提树图。碑文记述了求那跋陀罗法师、智药三藏两位高僧航海而至广州，在法性寺建戒坛、植菩提树，以及之后六祖惠能论风幡、讲法、剃发的过程。
At upper end of the stele, there is an inscription written by Yinzong, a Master who lectured on the Nirvana Sutra, and Facai, the abbot of the temple. At the lower end, there is an engraving of the Bodhi tree.The inscription describes how Gunabhadra and Zhiyao Sanzang sailed to Guangzhou to build the ordination platform and plant the Bodhi tree at the Temple, and how Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch responded to the Flag-or-Wind Argument, taught the Dharma and received ordination at the temple.
这一块块碑刻，记载着光孝寺的各大重要历史事件，在文化和艺术上都具有极高的价值，值得我们好好珍惜。
These stelae are worth cherishing for their great cultural and artistic value as well as their recorded information on the temple's major historical events.
