principle of dependent origination

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prat%C4%ABtyasamutp%C4%81da

Pratītyasamutpāda (Sanskrit: 𑀧𑁆𑀭𑀢𑀻𑀢𑁆𑀬𑀲𑀫𑀼𑀢𑁆𑀧𑀸𑀤, Pāli: paṭiccasamuppāda), commonly translated as dependent origination

 The basic principle is that all things (dharmas, phenomena, principles) arise in dependence upon other things. 

phenomena: a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, especially one whose cause or explanation is in question.

dharmas

([ for this talk, dharma will mean the Teaching that should get you to stay on the path to your goal (destination) if you do your meditative practice and study with skill, patient (with yourself), love, kindness, and compassion; first with self, then with others, co-dependent self and others, and finally with that which is both beyond self and beyond others; you should not follow any practice and/or teaching, without putting them through your common sense test (and NLP well-formed outcome test); ...])

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma

 It has multiple meanings in Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism.[8]

The root of the word dharma is "dhri", which means "to support, hold, or bear". It is the thing that regulates the course of change by not participating in change, but that principle which remains constant.[30]

numerous definitions of the word dharma, such as that which is established or firm, steadfast decree, statute, law, practice, custom, duty, right, justice, virtue, morality, ethics, religion, religious merit, good works, nature, character, quality, property. Yet, each of these definitions is incomplete, while the combination of these translations does not convey the total sense of the word. In common parlance, dharma means "right way of living" and "path of rightness".[30]

principle: a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning. 

 dependent origination is the basic principle of conditionality which is at play in all conditioned phenomena. 

 This principle is invariable and stable, 

 this natural law [Pratītyasamutpāda][all things is dependence upon other things] of this/that conditionality is independent of being discovered by a Buddha (a "Tathāgata"),

dependent origination was one of the two principles which were 

"profound (gambhira), difficult to see, difficult to understand, peaceful, sublime, beyond the scope of mere reasoning (atakkāvacara), subtle." 

everything exists because of a prior cause.

https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/article/dependent-origination/

 translated as “dependent origination” or “co-dependent origination” or “causal interdependence.”

What the paṭicca-samuppāda actually describes is a vision of life or an un­derstanding in which we see the way everything is interconnected—that there is nothing separate, nothing standing alone. Everything effects everything else. We are part of this sys­tem. We are part of this process of de­pendent origination—causal relation­ships effected by everything that happens around us and, in turn, effecting the kind of world that we all live in in­wardly and outwardly.

It is also important to understand that freedom is not found separate from this process. 

And part of that process of understanding what it means to be free depends on understanding inter-con­nectedness,

 Things don’t just happen. There is a combina­tion of causes and conditions that is necessary for things to happen. This is really important in terms of our inner experience. It is not unusual to have the experience of ending up some­where, and not knowing how we got there. And feeling quite powerless be­cause of the confusion present in that situation. Understanding how things come together, how they interact, ac­tually removes that sense of powerless­ness or that sense of being a victim of life or helplessness. Because if we un­derstand how things come together, we can also begin to understand the way out, how to find another way of being, and realize that life is not random chaos.

causes and conditions