東 西 鐵 塔

The West and East Iron Pagodas

上期我們介紹了瘞發(fā)塔,。除了瘞發(fā)塔，光孝寺內(nèi)還有兩座著名的鐵塔,。那就是我國(guó)現(xiàn)存有確切鑄造年代的,、最早的大型鐵塔——光孝寺的東,、西鐵塔。

Previously we learned about the Hair-Burying Pagoda.Besides this one, there are two more famous pagodas at Guangxiao Temple:The West Iron Pagoda and the East Iron Pagoda, which are also the earliest existing large-scale iron pagodas in China with verifiable casting times.

【西鐵塔】

The West Iron Pagoda

西鐵塔筑于南漢大寶六年（963）,，由南漢后主劉鋹（chǎng）的太監(jiān)與其弟子出資鑄造,。這座鐵塔初成時(shí)，全塔涂以金箔,，因此有“涂金千佛塔”之稱(chēng),。其塔基為石刻蓮花底座。塔身上的盤(pán)龍紋飾,，則有敦煌飛天的造型風(fēng)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.

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.

【東鐵塔】 

光孝寺現(xiàn)存的另一座東鐵塔,，在東塔殿內(nèi)，形制與西鐵塔相同,，然而更加完整,。這座東鐵塔，是南漢后主劉鋹在西鐵塔建成4年之后,，即南漢大寶十年（967）,，令內(nèi)侍監(jiān)李托奉敕監(jiān)鑄。

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,，造型與西鐵塔相似：塔基的蓮花底座上有精美的二龍戲珠紋飾,，下有石刻須彌座。七層方形塔身上,，那些千佛浮雕像也與西鐵塔相仿,，可證這塔確是仿照西鐵塔建造的。

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.

不過(guò),，這個(gè)東鐵塔佛龕內(nèi)的小佛像的工藝不僅更為精致,，而且還帶有鮮明的異域風(fēng)格，屬于中印藝術(shù)風(fēng)格的合璧之作,。要說(shuō)它與西鐵塔略有不同處,，就是它的每層塔檐多了一層專(zhuān)刻龍紋。東鐵塔保留較為完整,，這個(gè)塔殿歷代多有重修,，現(xiàn)存塔殿為清乾隆二年（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.

光孝寺保存的這兩座鐵塔的鑄工非常精致,，證明了一千年前中國(guó)人已掌握了高超的鑄造技術(shù)和造型藝術(shù),，其設(shè)計(jì)特色，又印證了中國(guó)文化深受外來(lái)文化的影響,，并不斷將其融入本土文化中,。

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.

Inscriptions in the Hall of East Iron Pagoda

在東塔殿內(nèi)，還保存有一批宋至清的碑刻,，其中有一些碑刻內(nèi)容直接反映了中外文化的交流,。比如：明萬(wàn)歷四十年（1612）的《光孝寺重修六祖菩提碑記》,。

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，刻有講涅槃經(jīng)法師印宗和住持比邱法才共同撰寫(xiě)的碑文,，下端,，則刻有菩提樹(shù)圖。碑文記述了求那跋陀羅法師,、智藥三藏兩位高僧航海而至廣州,，在法性寺建戒壇、植菩提樹(shù),，以及之后六祖惠能論風(fēng)幡,、講法、剃發(fā)的過(guò)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.

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.