The Perfection of Truthfulness - Loyalty to the Buddha

“Truth is indeed the Deathless word.

Truth is, for sure, the sweetest of flavours.

In truth, and in the goal and in the Dhamma, are the good established.

Brahmin recluses stationed in the truth and so on.

That which is the converse of the truth

is made manifest by way of ‘For the person who has transgressed,

who is of lying speech,

who gets not (even) one thing right’

and ‘The one who speaks of what did not take place goes to hell’ and so forth.”
The perfection of truthfulness should be developed together with panna so that the noble Truths can be realized. We need courage so that we are diligent and turn away immediately from akusala. If we are too slow in turning away from akusala, it will later on become more difficult or even too late to do so, as must have happened life after life.
We read in the Commentary to the “Itivuttaka”, “As it was said”, The Ones, Ch 1, §1, Lobha Sutta, which was quoted above:

“Loyalty to the Buddha is loyalty with firm confidence.

For a person with such confidence, be he monk, deity, mara or Brahma,

it is impossible to steal.

Someone who is steadfast in his loyalty

would not give up his confidence in the Buddha or his teachings,

even when in danger of life.

Therefore, the Buddha said that a person with wisdom and gratefulness is a noble friend

who is steadfast in loyalty.”
Loyalty to people other than the Buddha may be of different degrees and it may be limited: it may last long or it may last for only a moment. However, the loyalty of Buddhists towards the Buddha is forever, until the end of life. From the time of childhood until one has become an adult, one can from morning until night hear the chanting of texts recollecting the excellent qualities of the Triple Gem. This makes us realize the excellence of the Buddha’s truthfulness in the development of the perfections so that he could penetrate the noble Truths and become a support beyond measure to living beings, to devas and mankind.
We read in the Commentary to the “Itivuttaka”:

“The Buddha is called bhagava because people are steadfast in their loyalty
towards him

since he is always intent on the benefit of all living beings in the world,

and determines in his great compassion to teach the Dhamma.

He teaches the Dhamma so that all beings could acquire steadfastness in síla,

in samadhi, the calm that is freedom from defilements,

and in panna.

The Buddhist followers, both monks and layfollowers,

should be sincere in their loyalty to the Buddha,

and they can express this by offering all kinds of gifts,

such as flowers, incense, unguents and other things by which they can honour him.”

  We can understand that the Buddha who is truthful and sincere and who is intent on the welfare of other beings in the world has eradicated all defilements. People can see his great compassion and his wisdom, and for this reason their loyalty to the Buddha, the Exalted One, surpasses their loyalty to anybody else.