This is a saying of Hanfeizi (280?-233BC), who took the Daoist binary relation between Dao (the Way) and wu (物 the thing) and developed it into a ternary relation with an addition of li (理 pattern). He believed that li describes the attributes and principles of each and every thing in the world in terms of length, size, shape, solidity, weight, color, and so forth, and thus differentiates one thing from another. Dao, the fundamental law, generates all the things and encompasses their patterns.

All things have different patterns, and Dao encompasses all of them. Therefore, Dao has to change as things change. (Hanfeizi)