SteveLPool
Quote
I reserve the right to constantly question my lama's words in case "the lama begins to show signs of dementia or other cognitive impairments"
Exactly. Even the finest teacher might succumb to dementia or lose grip for other reasons.
Quote
After you have checked him/her out and you have 'complete trust' in them this teacher becomes your 'root lama'. From this point on I was told 'not to question the lama' as this is just a waste of time
This all or nothing complete trust is regression to childhood all or nothing states of mind. Discernment and evaluation are presumed to be valuable and necessary to determine whether someone is a suitable root guru.
Then, suddenly, having found one's root guru, those same functions--discernment, evaluation --become something useless and to be discarded?
I suggest that once one has developed and trained any adult level cognitive function--in this case we discuss the the functions of discernment and evaluation--
--to stop using an adult cognitive function after having used it for years requires that the aspirant inflict a disruption in his or her inner life. I suspect this might require the aspirant to split off and disown already developed adult skills (discernment) (evaluation)that, split off, remain active but unconsciously so.
Imagine knowing how to read.
Next, imagine being told, "You are at a point where you no longer require reading comprehension. You must stop using that function."
Imagine yourself having learned reading comprehension and then being told not to exercise it.
Gazing at news headlines and forcing oneself not to recognize their meaning takes effort--it means intentionally not using a skill one has learned.
So, this may account for the volatile emotions that bubble round and churn forth in discussions of Vajrayana teachers and malpractice. People who have disowned adult cognitive functions, pretending they are not perceiving what they actually are perceiving.
Finally the bit about taking time to 'check out' a guru before deciding he or she is suitable.
But..this bit about taking the needed time to observe and test a teacher before asking to become a disciple..all that time observing and testing means staying in a social setting that surrounds the teacher.
During that time, one's objectivity is lost. We humans are sensitive to social settings.
And...how many of us have the resources to learn Tibetan or the other dialects spoken by the teacher?
And, how do we know as outsiders, how the teacher actually behaves toward his or her intimates?