Truth is a very important character trait for a practicing Buddhist to reflect. It should be, I think, an important character trait for anyone not only to reflect, but to embrace, whether a Buddhist or not. But in Buddhism it is so important that it is one of the Five Precepts taken by all who have chosen enlightenment as a goal and have chosen to follow the teachings of the Buddha.
The way the precept on truthfulness usually is stated in the Five Precepts is that one will train to refrain from lying. The pledge also can be expressed this way: “I vow to abstain from speaking falsehood and I vow to encourage truthfulness.” So Buddhism’s precepts not only call for refraining, but for indulging; not just to stop doing something unskillful or which causes dukkha (suffering, frustration, unhappiness), but to start doing something skillful which causes sukha (peace of mind, happiness).
