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