Well, I am great to hear that you are into Buddhism. I am actually not a real Buddhisht but I have studied and learned about Buddhism. It is something that I would love to embrace at my retirement age (btw I’m still 21 years old). I was fortunate enough to be born as a Chinese in Malaysia, so I have no problem accessing the Buddhism materials from China which is currently the central of the Buddhism as most of the translated suttras or mantras are available at there.

Now you have to understand that the journey of attaining the Enlightenment is a process and is progressive. It may take up to thousands, millions or billions of reincarnations to achieve Enlightenment eventually. As for now, if you really want to embrace Buddhism, you may need to understand the basic concepts or principles from Buddhism about the Truths of the Universe. There are two classes of Truth, one is natural Truth, another one is supernatural Truth. That’s how we have Hinayana and Mahayana for both Truths respectively. I would suggest that you should have deep understanding on theories of Hinayana before you proceed to Mahanyana. It is because Hinayana consists of theories and Truths that can be universally understood and accepted by every living being in this universe including Science. As for Mahayana, I would not elaborate it here to avoid disputes and misunderstandings as it is a supernatural Truth that cannot be explained or understood by using words due to its formlessness (non-physical or intangible existence). This may sound mysterious to you, but it not mysterious and unfamiliar at all actually. It is because there has been a Buddha that stays inside everyone of us to be the Awakened One. It is just a matter of time (countless reincarnations) and I would suggest you to read Lotus Suttra for this.

As for the intoxication case, I have no idea what you mean actually. However, you don’t have to quit alcohol abruptly as we need some time to gradually turn into perfect sobriety like a monk. Of course, it is the best if you can quit it completely as early or soon as possible. There are other intoxicants, not really intoxicants, but foods that you should also avoid such as onions and garlics. It is because foods such as onions and garlics or any other foods that have such similarities, will induce sexual arousal if eating them raw and anger or annoyance if eating them cooked. That’s the Buddhism theory, this might not be true for us, but those are the foods that must be avoided if you are a true Buddhism practitioner or monk. I hope my answer would help. Thank You.