Meng of "What Do You Think, My Friend?" on the front page of The New York Times

Tan Chade-Meng, known as Meng, the fellow who in May of 1995 started “What Do You Think, My Friend?” , which is one of the oldest, most-venerated Buddhist websites, appeared on the front of The New York Times Online, today -- ID’ed as “The Google Guy.” He is pictured four times, in a montage with Madeleine Albright, Mohammad Ali, Robin Williams and Tom Brokaw -- four of more than a hundred luminaries The Times reports he has been pictured with at Google headquarters.

The article, "Who's With Gwyneth? The Google Guy" says “At Google, Mr. Tan has a reputation as a top-flight engineer. But he is also known for his fondness for one-liners and for being a regular contributor to the company’s online humor groups. The job title on his business card reads: “Jolly Good Fellow (which nobody can deny).”

Yep. That is online Buddhism’s funny Meng. There is a lot of humor in “What Do You Think, My Friend?” including a page called "A lighter side of Buddhism." At his website, Meng doesn't mention his job at Google. It has this to say: "The author of this site is Tan Chade-Meng, a Singapore-born Software Engineer working in California."

In the Times article, there is no mention of Meng being a Founding Father of Buddhism on the Internet or of being Buddhist.

A link on Meng's "lighter side" page is to an article I wrote that Meng graciously served as a panelist/contributor for, "Laughing Your Way to Enlightenment," which appeared in the short-lived online e-mag Hundred Mountain in February 2000.

In my article, lo seven years ago, Meng is quoted many times, including this: “I think that being a Buddhist is very simple,” Meng says. “It's just about cultivating kindness, compassion, mindfulness and calmness. Very simple, but not easy at all.”

A jolly good fellow, he is. And that nobody, famous or not famous, can deny.