Welcome
veggie hoopsters to
today’s Vegetarian Elite!
Can you guess
the first player
in the National Basketball
Association’s history
to win the championship
with three different teams?
Well, if you said
John Salley, you are right!
Towering at 7 feet tall,
John was known as
a great defensive player
and shot-blocker
during his 14-year career
that was decorated
with an incredible
four NBA championships.
He won two of them
with the Detroit Pistons
in 1989 and 1990
playing alongside
Hall of Famer
Isiah Thomas,
another championship
was with the legendary
Michael Jordan
and the record-setting
1996 Chicago Bulls,
and the fourth was won
in 2000 with
the Los Angeles Lakers
and All-Stars Kobe Bryant
and Shaquille O’Neal.
Recently,
Supreme Master Television
had the opportunity
to go “1-on-1”
with Mr. John Salley.
We learned how the young
and determined boy
growing up
in New York City
became one of
the foremost advocators
of the life-sustaining
and Earth-saving
organic vegan diet.
I grew up
in Brooklyn, New York
in a project called
Bay View houses,
all the way on the
east coast of Brooklyn.
By the age of 11 or 12,
I said I was going to be
a professional athlete.
I was 11 in fifth grade
when I said,
“This is what I want to do.”
And I looked at it as,
I have to get,
I have to be better
than everybody
in my neighborhood
in the next 10 years
in order for me to be a pro.
So I dedicated
10 years of my life
to becoming a pro.
So from 11 to 21,
that was my focus.
Good in school,
paid attention in school,
did what I needed to do,
played as much
as I can play.
If I wasn’t sleeping
or in school,
I was playing basketball.
John’s admirable work
ethic graduated him from
Georgia Tech University.
In 1986, he was selected
in the first round
of the elite NBA draft
by the Detroit Pistons.
Just a couple of
basketball seasons later,
the Pistons were
on their way to
becoming back-to-back
NBA champs with John
playing a major role
in the team’s success.
After his
two championships
with Detroit,
John had a chance
encounter with
a holistic doctor
that changed his life.
The meeting
rekindled his interests
back in university
of becoming a doctor,
and also made him realize
that being a world-class
athlete still could not
guarantee him protection
from meat-related diseases
like cancer.
Thus, his new
and rewarding life
as a vegetarian
began in 1991.
I was a vegetarian in ‘91.
1991 I was still playing.
Since 1991, I’ve won
2 more championships.
In ‘96, I won in Chicago;
in 2000
I won in the Lakers.
Being a vegetarian to me
was my edge,
the way I was going to be
ahead of the next guy
trying to get my job,
the way I was going to be
ahead of the guy
I had to play against.
He couldn’t beat me
as long as
he was harboring
tons of flesh (Yeah.)
in his stomach at that time.
I started dealing with
homeopathic medicine
and natural medicine
and natural foods
and natural herbs
and things of the like.
And that became my focus
on how to be as healthy
and as strong as possible.
Based on his own
personal experiences,
John firmly believes in
the healing properties
of a plant-based diet.
He has stated,
“Get back to eating green,
organic natural vegetables,
and cancer
would be eradicated.”
In changing the way he ate,
it seemed he also
restructured his destiny.
Everybody in my family
dies of cancer.
My father died of cancer,
my uncles, my aunts.
And as opposed to
having any cancerous cells
grow on my body,
I decided to make my body
as alkaline
with as much oxygen,
and as a better way
of putting it, I made sure
my temple was the cleanest
it can possibly be.
And with
making my temple clean,
I was able to
accomplish things,
feel things,
stay young feeling.
Age is happening.
I’m getting older everyday,
but mentally and
physically I feel young.
As I would say,
my ministry
is always been about
taking care of your body,
worshiping
in your own temple.
And I would say
to somebody,
“How could you
ask for a spiritual being
to come inside you
and be inside you if
you have a dirty temple?”
I love my life. (Yeah.)
I say it every day, at least
five, six times a day.
I stay true to myself.
I stay true
to what I put in my body.
I stay true to every day.
I stay true
to my water intake.
I make sure I help
my organs keep going.
I treat my body
like some people
treat a classic car.
That beautiful automobile
that you spent more time
on that automobile
than you did your body;
it’s senseless to me.
So I’d rather spend
the same amount of time
on my body
that people spend on
automobile body.
What do you do
to keep your body clean
and healthy?
I say, one: I only eat things
that are going to
help give me energy;
I call my food energy food.
So the food I eat
is fuel for my body,
I make sure
it is good fuel, clean fuel.
I make sure
I’m clean inside.
I do a lot of hiking,
isometrics, pull-ups,
chin-ups, crunches,
sit-ups, and
I literally concentrate
on each muscle
inside my body.
So if I’m doing crunches,
I focus on that muscle.
So I use a lot of my mind
to keep my body radiant.
I just constantly
keep it alive,
keep it oxygenated.
We asked John
how others react when
they learn he is a vegan.
They go,
“You don’t eat any meat?”
I go, “No.”
And they go,
“Man, why not?”
I go “I’m not a carnivore.”
And that’s my answer.
I say, “I don’t eat flesh.”
They go,
“Just call it meat.”
I go “No, it’s not meat.
The meat
of the conversation
is the fact that
you’re eating something
that is driving you mad
and making you sick.”
Then I just have to
explain to them.
They go,
“Ah you look great.”
You can go in to
a restaurant and you can
get a side of vegetables.
You can get a salad.
You can get rice.
You can get all that stuff.
I said,
“I have the same meal
you have without
any animal by-product.”
I can do mash potatoes
without butter.
I can have anything
except the chicken and
except the bacon.
That’s what
I teach my daughters.
I see that
you’re such a good father.
That’s wonderful!
That’s cool.
Well sports fans,
looks like there’s
a time-out on the floor.
We’ll go for some water
and be right back!
Please stay with us.
Welcome back to
Vegetarian Elite and
our visit with John Salley.
On November 18th
of this year,
John attended an event
on Capitol Hill
in Washington DC.
There, along with
politicians and celebrities,
he asked Congress
to support Vegetarian
School Lunch Options.
He stated:
“Succeeding as
a champion athlete or
champion student takes
plenty of nutritious fuel
for the mind and the body.
Students need more fruits
and vegetables
that will help them
stay healthy, fit,
and ready to learn.
That’s why it’s important
for Congress
to stay on top of its game
by reforming
the Child Nutrition Act.”
John recalls a story of
turning his cousin’s life
around, simply by
influencing his diet
and exercise.
I have a cousin.
So he weighed… I was,
at that time I was 270.
He weighed 25
more pounds than me
and he’s only 5’6”
so, and I’m 7 foot.
And I looked at him
one day and I told him
he was selfish.
And he goes,
“What do you mean
I’m selfish?”
I go, “You’re going to
keep destroying your body,
and then
you’re going to expect me
and everyone else
to raise your daughter
when you could
have spent as much time
with your daughter
as possible.
But you decide to
put things in your mouth
that go in your body
that make you very sick.”
To the point
where he couldn’t sleep,
he had a sleeping machine,
he had Type II diabetes,
he didn’t like himself.
He’s wearing 5 and 6X,
he’s embarrassed
to go certain places, he
can’t fit in certain chairs.
And I said, “You know,
that’s a handicap
that you can fix,
as opposed to
being born with
some sort of handicap.”
And I told him,
“Stop being selfish.
Stop being lazy.
Take pride in yourself.”
And when I said that to him,
he said the thing
that got to him
that I inspired him,
is he said,
“That I was being lazy
and that somebody else
was going to have raise,
another male’s
going to have to
raise [my] daughter.”
And he thought about that
and he never wanted that.
So, he stopped eating
anything white.
He cut the flesh
out of his diet.
If it was green, red, yellow,
he’d eat it.
And he would
go to the gym.
He’s now 165–175 pounds.
So, he lost almost 100,
he lost 107 pounds he says,
from the day he started.
And I guess he is
much more happy now?
Very happy.
He can buy his clothes
in a regular store.
He doesn’t feel like
everybody is staring at him
when he’s eating
inside of a restaurant.
He doesn’t feel like he
has to eat small because
people have small minds
and they dictate
what he did.
He felt good about it.
So how do you teach others
about vegetarianism?
Most of it is by example.
Because
a lot of people see me,
I was built like this
in that picture in 1989,
20 years ago.
And I had
the same bodyweight,
a little bit more muscle,
same bodyweight.
And when people see me,
that have known me
from then, they were like,
“Oh, you look,
you haven’t changed.”
And I go,
“Isn’t that amazing?”
When people are ready,
as you said earlier,
“The Master will appear.”
So as oppose to me
pushing people, I decided
to be a living example.
And if I can do it,
anyone can do it.
That’s what I decided
my mantra was going to be,
“If I can do it,
you can do it,
if you want to do it.”
John remembers
his parents
having a garden
when he was little,
which cultivated
his appreciation for
all kinds of vegetables
early on.
This love for fresh,
wholesome foods
surely planted a seed
for him
to establish his own
vegan organic company.
I started
“John Salley Foods”
about 2 years ago.
And I was raised
by my mother who was
a Kosher caterer.
So I’ve always been
around food
and servicing people.
An interesting note:
at 84 years young,
John’s mother became
a vegetarian herself!
Moroccan food, food
from people in Thailand,
Indian food,
they all have flavor
and taste.
So you can have vegan food
but it should be
with different spices,
not hot all the time,
but it should have a taste
with all the texture.
And so I developed first
different sauces,
then I use all my recipes
and now I just
spend most of my time
making really good pizza.
John thoughtfully describes
his compassionate
organic vegan business:
“We are a gourmet
snack food company
on a mission to create
products and recipes
on a level
you can’t ordinarily find
at your grocery store.
All of our foods are
100% organic, vegan,
and kosher.
No animals were used
or harmed in any way
in the production
of our foods.
When you choose
John Salley’s vegan
and organic products,
you are assured of
naturally flavored foods
grown without
chemical fertilizers
or pesticides.”
Nowadays, John Salley
advocates veganism
across the country, and
especially to children.
John’s devotion
to this noble lifestyle
makes him not only
an NBA champion
but a true champion
of the heart as well.
Join us again next week
on Vegetarian Elite to
learn about John Salley’s
humanitarian and
spiritual endeavors,
and how his promotion
of the kinder, healthier
vegan diet garnered him
a Shining World
Hero Award.
Coming up next is
Between Master
and Disciples,
here on
Supreme Master Television.
May all your wishes
of truth, beauty, and love
be fulfilled.
Hey, I’m John Salley,
and you’re watching
Supreme Master TV.
Be Veg,
Go Green,
Save the Planet
To find out more
about John Salley’s
organic vegan snack food
line, please go to:
www.JohnSalleyFoods.com
‘Tis the season
of Christmas!
Festive and heartwarming
carols can be heard
far and wide,
melodiously reminding
us of the true meaning
of this joyful holiday.
Away in a manger,
No crib for His bed
The little Lord Jesus
Laid down His sweet head
The stars in the bright sky
Looked down where He lay
The little Lord Jesus
Asleep on the hay
Come and enjoy with us
on Supreme Master
Television some
of the most loved carols
from around the world,
this Tuesday,
December 22nd
on A Journey through
Aesthetic Realms.
Welcome
super sports fans to
another exciting edition
of Vegetarian Elite
featuring the second half
of our intimate interview
with Mr. John Salley,
a four-time NBA champion
and organic vegan
advocate.
John has played on
some of the greatest teams
in the National Basketball
Association’s history
including
the Detroit Pistons,
Chicago Bulls, and
Los Angeles Lakers.
After becoming
vegetarian in 1991,
John’s athletic ability
rose to new heights
as he scored
the most points per game
in his career that year.
Almost 20 years later,
John has stepped forward
as one of the most active
celebrities endorsing
the planet-saving
organic vegan diet.
He travels
across the country
showing people,
including children,
the benefits of veganism.
He was invited as a guest
to prepare
some vegan recipes
alongside Rachel Ray
on national television, and
was the keynote speaker
at this year’s VegFest
event in Michigan.
He has taken a firm stance
in supporting
healthy school lunches
and reforming
the Child Nutrition Act to
make vegetarian lunches
a standard on
school cafeteria menus.
In a letter addressed to
the Honorable Nancy Pelosi,
the US Speaker
of the House, he stated:
“As a parent,
I’m sure we can all agree
that fruits and vegetables
are an important part
of everyone’s diet –
especially our children’s.
It’s not easy to score points
– on the court
or in the classroom –
when you’re eating
a junk food diet packed
with fat and cholesterol.”
For his tireless efforts
in advocating veganism,
John was honored with
the Shining World
Hero Award
from
Supreme Master Ching Hai.
His award letter read:
“This Award is presented
in recognition of
your courage in
promoting the vegan diet,
protecting voiceless animals
– our co-inhabitants;
and for your enlightened
leadership in striving for
a more humane world,
which helps create
a brighter future
for all humanity...
we hereby applaud and
celebrate the great heroic
deeds of Mr. John Salley,
a True Hero.”
John is also active in
the humanitarian arenas,
as he and his brother Jerry
head the Salley Foundation.
He is involved with
Operation Smile and
traveled on a mission
to transform lives of
children living in Brazil.
More recently, John has
recorded public service
announcements
and animal awareness
campaigns with People
for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA).
In fact,
John Salley has been
a positive role model
at every stage of his life,
and this
selfless determination
has extended into
the entertainment field.
He has played in a number
of Hollywood movies,
hosted an
Emmy Award-nominated
sports show, and
currently owns his own
production company.
So in 1993,
I did my first film
which was “Bad Boys.”
You were an actor or…?
Yeah, actor, computer nerd.
And then I did
another movie in ‘95
with Whoopi Goldberg
called “Eddie,”
where I played
a basketball player.
And since then, I’ve been in
I think nine movies.
And then I was, I wanted
to be a television host,
I always wanted
to be on TV.
So I worked really hard
at becoming a TV host.
I did a numerous amount
of shows.
Now I have
a production company,
John Salley Presents, and
I make all the decisions
on what I present.
And I’m executive producer,
producer, and sometimes
host of my own shows.
Even with all of
his ambitions projects,
John sets aside time to
introspect and self improve.
I write.
One of my books is called
“A Better Life Booklet,”
and it’s literally
a homework book.
So, it gives off literally,
the quote of the day,
the feel of the day,
the spiritual point
of the day, just what
I felt of that day.
And then, “What are you
going to do to
make yourself better today?
Did you do this,
did you do that?”
Like, cleanliness
they would say is
the next thing to Godliness,
and so I would say that.
Being clean not just
meaning on the surface,
it’s meaning inside,
it’s everything –
clean thought,
positive thought,
clean clothes,
clean mentality,
clean breathing,
everything being clean,
it will get you close
to that Godliness feeling.
Examples,
and then it shows you
how you can clean it up.
Anybody can
go through a situation
and make a choice.
I usually don’t say mistakes;
make a choice.
That choice may not
have worked in their favor.
Now they can make
another choice to
change the way they are
from this point on—clean.
And so the book is
about being clean,
about being truthful,
about being honest,
about being direct,
compassionate.
Let’s take a few
deep breaths now to
appreciate Mother Nature’s
wonderful gifts and
return in just a moment.
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television.
Welcome back to
Vegetarian Elite
on Supreme Master
Television.
Aside from sports
and entertainment,
John Salley is
a very spiritual being.
He respects the world’s
major religions, and lives
according to
his own innate goodness
and conscience.
I’m very connected
to the spiritual world.
And actually
you are spiritual
since very young, right?
Yeah, I’ve been
connected my whole life.
And I learned the ways
of Christianity, and then
when I got old enough
I checked out
the ways of Islam.
I studied Islam,
I studied Judaism.
I studied Buddhism.
Studying different religions,
I believe
there’s a lot of people
looking for truth, a lot.
The reason
I think I’m interested,
still, in religion,
different religions,
is I always like
to try to understand
the human mind.
Then I want to know what
it was like to be in Islam
because the basis
of Islam is wonderful.
I move to where
my spirit tells me to move.
In the Bible,
in Corinthians it says,
“Follow your conscience
and let your conscience
be your guide.” (Yes.)
So if I clean my conscience
I know
I’m leaving a clean path
and my clean Bible.
“Be the change you
want to see in the world.”
So, if you work on
being the change you
want to see in the world,
just imagine
if everyone did that.
You wanted to go to India
since very young (Yeah.)
or like 15 years old, right?
Yeah.
Why this passion for India?
I just have this affection
for that place.
I don’t know what it was.
I love the skin color,
I love the food,
I love the culture,
I love what
the culture stood for.
And so I was
blessed enough to go.
John tells us about
his special meeting with
the Dalai Lama last year
while he was in India
filming the documentary
“The Missing Peace.”
I had a five hour car ride
up to Dharamshala,
and Dharamshala is
where the Dalai Lama is.
And they call it
“Little Tibet”
because it looks like Tibet,
because everybody who
was able to come across,
26 days across
the Himalayas
and make it there,
is where they settled.
And then, Dalai Lama
and his people make sure
everyone’s handled.
And I got to meet him
and have an audience
with the Dalai Lama,
and was able to ask him
two questions.
And the first question was,
“How did you know
at the age of five
that this was what
you were going to do?”
because they picked him
when he was really young.
And, “How is that
you didn’t falter?”
And then
my second question is
I asked him
for an autograph;
I don’t really
ever get autographs.
And so I had a shirt that
says “Love Everybody”
and he wrote in Tibetan
a whole paragraph
and autographed it, and
I’ll show it to you one day.
It’s kind of slick.
And I got a lot of things
from playing against
great players
like Michael Jordan,
Magic Johnson,
Shaquille O’Neil,
Larry Bird, but
none of those autographs
stand up to the one
I got from the Dalai Lama.
Is there something that
you learned from him?
Yeah, I learned, he said
“I’m just a common monk.”
And I learned that
no matter how powerful
you can be, you don’t
have to toot your own horn.
Somebody else can.
Is that like a lesson
of humility?
Yeah, I would say that.
I would say
he was very humble.
But it’s the lessons
of control ego.
He wasn’t in competition,
he didn’t need to be.
And that was a good idea.
And so I leaned from that.
I learned from his actions.
And do you
practice meditation?
Yeah, I meditate every night
for about an hour
or two hours, especially
when it’s quiet here
up in the mountain and
there’s no one around
but my dog.
And if you noticed,
he doesn’t bark or yell
or do anything crazy, so
I guess he’s meditating too.
He seems like
he meditates like 24 hours.
Yeah, he’s just laid back.
Samadhi all the time.
That’s my kind of dog.
He may be a blessing
for you.
Yeah.
Everything, everything,
even when it doesn’t
turn out to be good,
I look at it
as a blessing for me,
it means I was there
to learn that lesson.
Glad I’m still here
to learn lessons.
And the meditation practice
that you do,
what kind of practice is it?
It’s funny;
my meditation practice
is called John Salley
meditation practice.
Most of the time
it’s trying to get me
to not carry anything.
I don’t really carry
animosity, regret guilt,
none of that stuff.
And if I find it in there
when I’m going through
my body
trying to clean things out,
I get rid of it.
So you kind of
check yourself every day?
Constantly.
One of my favorite movies
is “Star Wars,” and Yoda
said to Luke Skywalker,
“Do or do not,
there is no try.”
And so
I don’t try to do anything.
I do it or I don’t do it.
And I go in and I say,
“I need to relax,
I need to think about it.”
Take a long time
to make a quick decision.
Everybody else is
quick decision and then go,
“Well, you know,
I had to make a decision
so I made that without
any logic or without
any thought behind it.”
I take my time
to think about it.
We felt privileged
to learn that
our interview was
an extremely rare occasion
that John
welcomed guests
to his private estate.
He shares with us
how he came to know of
Supreme Master Ching Hai
through gifts
he received along with
his Shining World
Hero Award.
After getting
Supreme Master’s books
and CD’s, and then
you guys got back
in touch with me,
my assistant kept saying,
“You’re going to let them
come to your house?
You never let anybody
come to your house.”
And I said,
“They’re a little different.”
You tell us before
the story about the books
that you look at, the books
of Supreme Master
Ching Hai.
Oh yeah, I looked at
Supreme Master’s
picture book.
“The Noble Wilds.”
I remember
when I got all these boxes
and I was wondering
who this lady was,
and then I read the bio
and then
I looked at the books.
And then I got the big book,
and I looked through it,
and since
I’m a photographer,
that’s my other passion
and my hobby,
and I looked at
some of the pictures and
the pictures were beautiful.
Hummingbirds
and whatever little birds
she had following.
And I looked at the plants
and see her
walking in the plants
and her pets, and I was
looking at the book and
it’s just like television.
So I’m looking at
the books and I got out
of my life and
I’m just following along.
And when I finished
looking at all the books
with the pretty pictures
and words, I felt better.
And I was like,
“Wow, all that
from a picture book.”
So I think
that’s a great idea.
And I took that into account,
and so I said,
“Let me let them in.”
You know,
they’ll enhance me
and I hope that
I enhanced them as well.
Thank you very much,
Supreme Master.
Kind viewers,
we have enjoyed
your company today
on our special discussion
with Vegetarian Elite
and former NBA star
John Salley.
And now,
please stay with us
for Between Master
and Disciples
coming up now
on Supreme Master
Television.
Wishing you and yours
a brilliant new year
blessed with wisdom,
compassion,
and warm laughter.
Hey, this is John Salley.
Thank you for being
a source of knowledge
for those
who want to go green,
for those who are being
vegetarians, even vegans,
and thank you
for the Supreme Master.
Namaste.
To find out more about
John Salley’s organic
vegan snack food line
go to
http://www.johnsalleyfoods.com/
Welcome veggie hoopsters to today’s Vegetarian Elite! Can you guess the first player in the National Basketball Association’s history to win the championship with three different teams? Well, if you said John Salley, you are right! Towering at 7 feet tall, John was known as a great defensive player and shot-blocker during his 14-year career that was decorated with an incredible four NBA championships.
He won two of them with the Detroit Pistons in 1989 and 1990 playing alongside Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, another championship was with the legendary Michael Jordan and the record-setting 1996 Chicago Bulls, and the fourth was won in 2000 with the Los Angeles Lakers and All-Stars Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal.
Recently, Supreme Master Television had the opportunity to go “1-on-1” with Mr. John Salley. We learned how the young and determined boy growing up in New York City became one of the foremost advocators of the life-sustaining and Earth-saving organic vegan diet.
To find out more about John Salley’s organic vegan snack food line, please go to:
www.JohnSalleyFoods.com