The term “ziran,” meaning “nature,” is important in Daoism. Ziran also means spontaneous or natural.
Daoism derives an ethical system (ideas about good and bad behavior) from the natural world.
The appropriate ethical response that is modeled on nature is wuwei—noninterference or just letting things be as they are.
The Daoist sage thus supports all things in their natural state and does not take any action that would disrupt that natural state.