This sentence comes from Tao Te Ching, and "Tao is nature" represents Laozi's philosophical thought, which means that the law reflected by "Tao" is "nature". "Man is everywhere, the earth follows the sky, the sky follows the Tao, and the Tao follows the nature." Laozi brilliantly contained and expounded the life laws of heaven, earth, man and even the whole universe in a one-stop communication way.
"Tao, law and nature" reveals the characteristics of the whole universe, including the attributes of everything in the world. Everything in the universe follows the "natural" law of Tao, and Tao takes itself as the law.
Extended data:
Philosophical thinking
Taoism talks about nature, and the "nature" here is natural nature.
Taoism is nature, that is, "invisible" nature. People are subject to the earth, the earth is subject to the sky, the sky is subject to the rules, and the rules are subject to themselves.
And every time science and technology progress, we think we have seen the world clearly and mastered it. This is an absolute truth. However, we are limited by ourselves. Over time, if we take another step, we will laugh at ourselves for staying in a fixed thinking for hundreds or even thousands of years.
From here, we can see that Laozi's legal consciousness is natural law. Of course, the concept of legal system has not yet formed. However, when governing the country, he advocated governing the world with natural law.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Taoist Nature