Dependent origination is a map that helps us see the cycle of craving more clearly. You can read more about it here, and I share from Turning the Wheel of Truth by Ajahn Sucitto. 

The 12 links of dependent origination are: Ignorance avijjā, Mental activities sankhāras, Consciousness viññāna,  Name and Form nāma-rūpa, 6 senses salāyatana, Contact phassa, Feeling Tone vedanā, Thirst tanhā, Clinging upādāna, Becoming bhava, Birth jāti,  Aging, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief and despair dukkha