Lets use the example of social comparison to illustrate the Twelve Nidanas of dependent origination.
1. Ignorance (avijja): The person lacks understanding of the true nature of reality and the causes of suffering, including the impermanent and empty nature of all phenomena.
2. Mental formations (sankhara): Due to ignorance, the person has formed habitual patterns of comparing themselves to others, often leading to feelings of inadequacy or superiority.
3. Consciousness (viññana): The persons consciousness is conditioned by these mental formations, making them vulnerable to experiencing social comparison.
4. Name and form (nama-rupa): The persons body and mind manifest in a way that is susceptible to social comparison.
5. The six sense bases (salayatana): The persons sense organs interact with the external world, particularly through social media or interactions with others.
6. Contact (phassa): The person encounters a situation or stimulus (e.g., seeing someones social media profile) that triggers social comparison through their sense bases.
7. Feeling (vedana): The person experiences a pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral feeling as a result of the contact with the stimulus.
8. Craving (tanha): The person develops a desire to be like the person they are comparing themselves to (if favorable) or to avoid feeling inferior by distancing themselves from the other person (if unfavorable).
9. Clinging (upadana): The persons attachment to their desire and aversion intensifies, perpetuating the cycle of social comparison.
10. Becoming (bhava): This clinging to social comparison reinforces the persons habitual patterns and karmic tendencies, leading to further instances of social comparison.
11. Birth (jati): The persons social comparison manifests in the form of thoughts, feelings, and actions related to comparing themselves to others.
12. Old age and death (jara-marana): Unaddressed social comparison can lead to psychological and emotional suffering, reinforcing the cycle of mental formations and karmic consequences.
In this example, we can see how the Twelve Nidanas apply to the arising and perpetuation of social comparison. By understanding the dependent origination of social comparison and recognizing the interdependence of the Twelve Links, a person can cultivate mindfulness and work towards breaking the cycle, ultimately leading to greater peace and freedom from suffering.

How to break cycle at each point:

Breaking the cycle of social comparison at each point of the Twelve Nidanas of dependent origination could look like this:

1. Ignorance (avijja): Developing an understanding of the empty and impermanent nature of all phenomena can help to reduce the mental habits and predispositions that lead to social comparison. This could involve studying Buddhist teachings on impermanence and compassion.

2. Mental formations (sankhara): Cultivating awareness of the mental habits and predispositions that lead to social comparison can help to weaken these tendencies. Mindfulness meditation and reflection exercises can help to recognize these habits and develop more positive mental formations.

3. Consciousness (viññana): Developing mindfulness and clear comprehension around the habit of social comparison can help to reduce the intensity of the mental habit. This could involve practices like noting, where you recognize the thought comparing as it arises in your mind.

4. Name and form (nama-rupa): By recognizing the particular psychological and emotional makeup that makes you prone to social comparison, you can develop strategies to reduce this tendency. This could involve working with a therapist to address underlying insecurities or developing self-compassion practices.

5. The six sense bases (salayatana): By paying attention to the activation of the sense bases and how they give rise to the habit of social comparison, you can reduce the intensity of the experience. Mindfulness practices that involve focusing your attention on the present moment can help to reduce sensory overload.

6. Contact (phassa): By recognizing the triggers that lead to social comparison, you can reduce the occurrence of this habit. Practicing restraint from or limiting exposure to social media or other comparison-provoking stimuli can help to reduce contact.

7. Feeling (vedana): Cultivating mindfulness of the feelings that arise when you compare yourself to others can help to reduce the intensity of these feelings. Contemplative practices that involve recognizing the transience and emptiness of feelings can help to reduce their grip on you.

8. Craving (tanha): Cultivating mindfulness around the desire or attachment that arises from feelings of social comparison can help to reduce craving. Practices like loving-kindness meditation, which cultivate a sense of connection and equanimity, can help to reduce attachment and desire.

9. Clinging (upadana): By recognizing how clinging leads to further entanglement in suffering, you can develop strategies to reduce attachment. Developing positive mental qualities like joy, gratitude, and contentment can help to reduce clinging.

10. Becoming (bhava): Developing mindfulness and equanimity around the process of becoming can help to reduce the amount of identification with self-concept that arises from social comparison. Practices that reduce self-cherishing and increase empathy can help to weaken the process of becoming.

11. Birth (jati): By recognizing how the birth of a new self-concept reinforces the habit of social comparison, you can develop strategies to reduce identification with self. Cultivating an attitude of emptiness or no-self can help to reduce the reinforcement of a new self-concept.

12. Old age and death (jara-marana): Recognizing how the aging and eventual death of the being leads to further rebirth and suffering can help to cultivate a sense of urgency to break the habit of social comparison. Mindfulness and reflection practices around death and impermanence can increase motivation to break the cycle.