The texts of world religions that survive over the centuries are being tested in our present time as never before. The questions center on the problem of whether one can use them to deal with contemporary issues and the ethical challenges of a world that has on one level been moving into dependence on technological advances and structures and on another level struggling with deeply ingrained social patterns. Can the religions literature provide answers? Do these texts posit the claim for universal ethical values that apply in all times to all situations? If there are universals, that can be identified，then it should be possible to seek for expressions of them in the oldest extant literature as well as in contemporary interpretations and practices. To be truly universal，is if not the case that the interpretation must be as universal as the stated rule? It is not difficult to point out the many problems involved in this search for a universal that extends over time and through numerous applications. 學者們對世界各個宗教保留下來的文獻進行了考證，可以說我們這個時什中學者們做的考證比任何一個時代都多得多. 問題的焦點在我們能不能用這些宗教文獻來解決當前的現實問題，解決世界面臨的倫理方面的挑戰 -- 在一個層面上，我們這個世界進入了一個高度依賴科技進步和科技結構的狀況. 在另一個層面上，我們這個世界不得不同己經深深地紮根於社會的模式進行抗爭. "宗教文獻能提供答案嗎? 這些文獻是不是都表示，其普世的倫理價值可以是放之四海而皆準? 如果確實存在這些可以証實放之四海而皆準的倫理價值，那麼也應能在古老的文獻和當代的詮釋和修行中找到它們的表現方式. 如果確實是放之四海而皆準的倫理．那麼人們對它們詮釋後制定的規則，也須是普遍有效的嗎? 不難看出，在尋找普世倫理價值時出現的不少問題，需要時間和大量用才能解決.
