Lets use the example of a person engaging in thought policing to illustrate the Twelve Nidanas of dependent origination.
1. Ignorance (avijja): The person lacks understanding of the true nature of reality, including their thoughts being impermanent and not self or owned.
2. Mental formations (sankhara): Due to ignorance, the person has formed habitual patterns of controlling their thoughts or censoring themselves, sometimes due to external influences or societal pressures.
3. Consciousness (viññana): The persons consciousness is conditioned by these mental formations, making them prone to engage in thought policing.
4. Name and form (nama-rupa): The persons body and mind (psychophysical constituents) manifest in a way that is susceptible to thought policing.
5. The six sense bases (salayatana): The persons sense organs (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and mind) interact with the external world and internal thoughts.
6. Contact (phassa): The person has contact with certain thoughts or external influences, which triggers the need to control or police their own thoughts.
7. Feeling (vedana): The person experiences an unpleasant feeling as a result of the contact with certain thoughts or external influences.
8. Craving (tanha): The person develops a desire to control or police their own thoughts as a way of avoiding discomfort or fear of social consequences.
9. Clinging (upadana): The persons attachment to thought policing intensifies as a defense mechanism against the perceived threat of certain thoughts or external influences.
10. Becoming (bhava): This clinging to thought policing reinforces the persons habitual patterns and karmic tendencies, perpetuating the cycle of thought policing.
11. Birth (jati): The persons thought policing manifests in the form of self-censorship or controlling their own thoughts, perpetuating the cycle of mental formations and karmic consequences.
12. Old age and death (jara-marana): The persons thought policing, if left unaddressed, can lead to mental and emotional suffering and perpetuate negative consequences in future situations or even future lives.
In this example, we can see how the Twelve Nidanas apply to the arising and perpetuation of thought policing. By understanding the dependent origination of thought policing and recognizing the interdependence of the Twelve Links, a person can cultivate mindfulness and work towards breaking the cycle of thought policing, ultimately leading to greater freedom and authenticity in their thoughts and behaviors.

How to break cycle at each point:

Here are some ways that someone can break the cycle of thought policing at each point of the Twelve Nidanas of dependent origination:

1. Ignorance (avijja): One can break the cycle of thought policing at this point by recognizing the impermanence and uncontrollable nature of thoughts. This involves cultivating mindfulness and observing thoughts as they arise and pass away, without judgment or the urge to control them.

2. Mental formations (sankhara): One can break the cycle of thought policing at this point by becoming aware of the habitual patterns of thought, speech, and behavior that contribute to the need to police ones own thoughts. This involves recognizing the underlying causes and conditions that give rise to these patterns, such as societal or cultural conditioning.

3. Consciousness (viññana): One can break the cycle of thought policing at this point by developing a deeper awareness of the ways in which consciousness is conditioned by mental formations. This involves recognizing the interdependence of the mind and its objects, and the ways in which the mind can become trapped by its own tendencies and habits.

4. Name and form (nama-rupa): One can break the cycle of thought policing at this point by cultivating greater clarity and awareness of the body and mind. This involves observing physical sensations and mental states without judgement, and developing a greater understanding of the relationship between the two.

5. The six sense bases (salayatana): One can break the cycle of thought policing at this point by developing greater awareness of the sense organs and their interaction with the world. This involves recognizing the ways in which external and internal stimuli can trigger the urge to control ones own thoughts, and cultivating mindfulness to disengage from this urge.

6. Contact (phassa): One can break the cycle of thought policing at this point by observing the ways in which contact with certain thoughts or external influences triggers the need to police ones own thoughts. This involves developing greater awareness of the thought patterns and influences that lead to mental and emotional distress, and learning to respond more skillfully to these triggers.

7. Feeling (vedana): One can break the cycle of thought policing at this point by observing the pleasant or unpleasant sensations that arise from contact with certain thoughts or external influences. This involves recognizing the ways in which craving or aversion arise in response to these sensations, and learning to observe them without attaching to or avoiding them.

8. Craving (tanha): One can break the cycle of thought policing at this point by recognizing the desire to control or police ones own thoughts as a defense mechanism against discomfort or fear of negative consequences. This involves cultivating greater awareness of the causes and conditions that give rise to this desire, and developing more skillful ways of responding to these conditions.

9. Clinging (upadana): One can break the cycle of thought policing at this point by recognizing the attachment to the need to control ones own thoughts. This involves developing greater understanding of the root causes and conditions that give rise to this attachment, and learning to disengage from it in a healthy and skillful way.

10. Becoming (bhava): One can break the cycle of thought policing at this point by recognizing the karmic process of becoming that results from clinging. This involves understanding the ways in which this attachment reinforces habitual patterns of thought, speech, and behavior, and working to cultivate new, more positive patterns.

11. Birth (jati): One can break the cycle of thought policing at this point by recognizing the ways in which thought policing manifests as self-censorship or controlling ones own thoughts. This involves recognizing the underlying causes and conditions that give rise to this manifestation, and working to disengage from it in a healthy and skillful way.

12. Old age and death (jara-marana): One can break the cycle of thought policing at this point by recognizing the ways in which thought policing can lead to mental and emotional suffering, and perpetuate negative consequences in future situations or even future lives. This involves cultivating greater awareness of these consequences, and developing more skillful ways of responding to them.