〈古太極圖〉，初名〈天地自然河圖〉，元明人多言其為蔡元定入蜀地而得，此說查無實據，不足為信。其究為何人所創，今已不能考明，可確定其於宋末元初開始流傳，至明嘉靖年間得到廣泛關注和研究。深入易學圖書學史可見，它是在周敦頤〈太極圖〉之後詮解和創新太極圖的潮流中產生的，是先天八卦方位圖式與十二消息卦圖式不斷演化綜合創新的產物。該圖面世的理論目的是要回應古聖如何畫卦的問題，因而其基本表達思路乃是由太極而兩儀而四象而八卦。在明代論述〈古太極圖〉的眾多學者中，章潢將其思想意蘊和理論價值推向了新的理論境地和歷史高度。該圖可視為宋明易學圖書學發展演化的理論結晶，直觀而又精妙地表現了太極－兩儀－四象－八卦之間的圓融一體之關係，在揭示陰陽消息、陰陽互根、陰陽相生、陰陽轉化等關係方面，確有其他易圖所不具備之特色與優勢。

The Ancient Taiji Diagram, originally named Hetu of Heaven, Earth and Nature, was often claimed by people in the Yuan (1271-1368) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties to have been obtained by Cai Yuanding (1135-1198) when he came Sichuan. This claim is unverifiable and thus unconvincing. The author of the diagram is hard to be proved today, but it can be confirmed that it began to spread in the late Song (960-1279) and early Yuan dynasties and received widespread attention and research during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. It can be seen from the in-depth observation of study on the He tu and Luo shu (Luo River Diagram) history of Yi scholarship that the diagram emerged in the trend of interpreting and innovating the Taiji Diagram after Zhou Dunyi's Taiji Diagram. It is a product of the continuous evolution and comprehensive innovation of the diagram of eight trigrams' positions of the earlier heaven and the diagram of twelve waxing and waning hexagrams. The theoretical purpose of this diagram is to respond to the question of how ancient sages draw hexagrams, so its basic expression idea is from Taiji to yin-yang to the four images to the eight hexagrams. Among a large number of scholars in the Ming Dynasty who discussed the Ancient Taiji Diagram, Zhang Huang (1527-1608) pushed its ideological significance and theoretical value to a new theoretical realm and historical height. This diagram can be seen as the theoretical fruit of the development and evolution of the Book of Changes in the Song and Ming dynasties, intuitively and exquisitely depicting the harmonious relationship between Taiji, yin-yang, four images, and eight hexagrams. In revealing the waxing and waning, the mutual roots, the co-existence and the transformation of yin and yang, there are indeed characteristics and advantages that other Yi diagrams do not possess.