Lin spent the trip to Thailand in his hotel room, absorbed in the book—“I never even went to the pool”—and when he returned, he began frequenting a Buddhist institute near his apartment in Beijing. His moment of transformation came when he grasped the idea, as he put it, that “this world is a fantasy.” He found it impossible to imagine going back to the work he had before. He asked, “Why should we attach ourselves to money and fame and social status?” He went on, “As a journalist in China you have to dance in chains. You have to maneuver in whatever space you get. You have to play the game
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