Lets use the example of unconscious bias to illustrate the Twelve Nidanas of dependent origination.
1. Ignorance (avijja): The person lacks understanding of their own biases and the impact they have on their perception and behavior towards others.
2. Mental formations (sankhara): Due to ignorance, the person forms habitual patterns of thinking and acting based on their biases and stereotypes.
3. Consciousness (viññana): The persons consciousness and perception are conditioned by these mental formations.
4. Name and form (nama-rupa): The persons perception of others is influenced by their biases, leading to stereotypes and judgments based on factors such as race, gender, or appearance.
5. The six sense bases (salayatana): The persons sense organs (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and mind) interact with the external world, but their perceptions are colored by their biases.
6. Contact (phassa): The person encounters someone who triggers their bias, leading to a biased response towards that person and their characteristics.
7. Feeling (vedana): The person experiences a positive or negative feeling towards the person based on their biases.
8. Craving (tanha): The person may crave more interactions with people who confirm their biases, and reject those who do not.
9. Clinging (upadana): The persons attachment to their biases and stereotypes intensifies, leading to an even stronger confirmation bias and a reinforcement of their views.
10. Becoming (bhava): This clinging to their biases reinforces the persons habitual patterns and karmic tendencies, perpetuating the cycle of unconscious bias.
11. Birth (jati): The persons biases manifest in their thoughts, speech, and behavior, leading to discriminatory actions towards others who they perceive as different.
12. Old age and death (jara-marana): Unaddressed unconscious biases can lead to social and emotional suffering and perpetuate negative consequences in future situations or even future lives.
This example illustrates how the Twelve Nidanas can be applied to the arising and perpetuation of unconscious bias, including the impact on perception, thought, speech, and behavior. By understanding the dependent origination of unconscious bias and recognizing the interdependence of the Twelve Links, one can cultivate mindfulness, compassion and work towards breaking the cycle of bias, ultimately leading to greater inclusivity, harmony, and reduction of suffering.

How to break cycle at each point:

To break the cycle of unconscious bias at each point of the Twelve Links, following actions can be taken:

1. Ignorance (avijja): By cultivating awareness and actively seeking self-reflection, one can come to recognize the existence of their biases and the impact they have on their perceptions and behavior towards others. Engaging in diversity and inclusion training, reading literature on the experiences of marginalized groups, and seeking feedback from colleagues or friends can help reduce ignorance and increase awareness.

2. Mental formations (sankhara): By bringing attention to our habitual patterns of thought and actively identifying and challenging our biases, we can reduce the influence of unconscious bias on our mental formations. This involves questioning our own assumptions, engaging in empathy-building activities, and avoiding reinforcing stereotypes.

3. Consciousness (viññana): By recognizing the impact that our biases have on our perceptions and interpretations of the world, we can strive to cultivate a more equitable and just approach. This involves actively challenging and refuting our biases when they arise, seeking alternative perspectives, and withholding judgments until we have sufficient information.

4. Name and form (nama-rupa): By actively recognizing and acknowledging our biases, we can work to prevent them from influencing our perceptions of others. This involves recognizing individual differences and unique characteristics of all people, and striving to see the person beyond the stereotype.

5. The six sense bases (salayatana): By actively interrogating our perceptions and interpretations of external stimuli, we can mitigate the impact of our biases on the interaction with the external world. This involves using mindfulness practice and being vigilant about our own tendencies and biases when interacting with others.

6. Contact (phassa): By recognizing situations where our biases may be inflamed and actively interrogating our emotional responses, we can work towards reducing the impact of our biases. This involves actively working to understand the root causes of those emotional responses and recognizing them as rooted in our biases.

7. Feeling (vedana): By cultivating a sense of balance and impartiality towards others, recognizing the humanity of all people, we can work towards recognizing and reducing our biases. This involves actively building empathy and recognizing the nuances of the emotional responses we have towards others.

8. Craving (tanha): By recognizing the tendency for our biases to reinforce themselves and seeking out alternatives, we can work to mitigate the impact of our biases on our behavior. This involves actively seeking diverse perspectives and engaging in activities that seek to challenge our biases.

9. Clinging (upadana): By seeking to let go of our biases and embracing a more inclusive approach, we can reduce the impact of our biases. This involves being open to change and seeking to understand how our biases affect others and ourselves.

10. Becoming (bhava): By recognizing our biases as malleable and challenging the status quo, we can work towards breaking the cycle of unconscious bias. This involves actively seeking change and recognizing the impact that our biases have on others and ourselves.

11. Birth (jati): By recognizing the impact of our biases, we can work to challenge them in our thoughts, speech, and actions. This involves actively seeking to dismantle our biases and reducing their impact.

12. Old age and death (jara-marana): By recognizing the cycle of suffering perpetuated by our biases, we can actively work towards creating a more equitable and just world for all people. This involves being vigilant about our biases and actively working to reduce their impact on our perceptions and behaviors.