It is a well-known fact that the first of all the commandments of the Buddhist creed is “Thou shalt not kill” but Chinese books contain various passages relating to Buddhist monks who freely indulged in carnage and butchery and took an active part in military expeditions of every description, thus leaving no room for doubt that warfare was an integrate part of their religious profession for centuries. —J. J. M. de Groot, 1891

英国艺术史家贡布里希出生于一九○九年三月三十日，于奥地利首都维也纳。他是艺术史，艺术心理学和艺术哲学领域的大师级人物。他有许多世界闻名的著作，其中《艺术的故事》从1950年出版以来，已经卖出400万册。本书收录了论述贡布里希及其著作的数篇论文。