 In February 1955 , at the age of 36 , Salinger married Claire Douglas , a Radcliffe student ( her father was the art critic Robert Langton Douglas ) . They had two children , Margaret ( b . December 10 , 1955 ) and Matthew ( b . February 13 , 1960 ) . Margaret Salinger wrote in her memoir Dream Catcher that she believes her parents would not have married , nor would she have been born , had her father not read the teachings of Lahiri Mahasaya , a guru of Paramahansa Yogananda , which brought the possibility of enlightenment to those following the path of the " householder " ( a married person with children ) . After their marriage , J.D. and Claire were initiated into the path of Kriya yoga in a small store @-@ front Hindu temple in Washington , D.C. , during the summer of 1955 . They received a mantra and breathing exercises to practice for ten minutes twice a day . 
