 Salinger wrote friends of a momentous change in his life in 1952 , after several years of practicing Zen Buddhism , while reading The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna about Hindu religious teacher Sri Ramakrishna . He became an adherent of Ramakrishna 's Advaita Vedanta Hinduism , which advocated celibacy for those seeking enlightenment , and detachment from human responsibilities such as family . Salinger 's religious studies were reflected in some of his writing . The story " Teddy " features a ten @-@ year @-@ old child who expresses <unk> insights . He also studied the writings of Ramakrishna 's disciple Vivekananda ; in the story " Hapworth 16 , 1924 " , the character of Seymour Glass describes him as " one of the most exciting , original and best @-@ equipped giants of this century . " 
