The site of the Kunming Jinma Monastery began as a simple shrine to a mountain deity, likely as early as the Western Han period. It was not until 676 AD, however, that King Weicheng of the Nanzhao Kingdom formally consecrated it as a Buddhist temple under the name Lingying Temple. This act bound the sanctuary to the local landscape.

The physical structure has repeatedly dissolved and re-emerged. In 1381, Ming Dynasty soldiers marched into Yunnan, leaving the temple in ashes. Decades later, in 1438,黔国公 Mu Sheng and his brother Mu Ang funded a massive restoration. Workers rebuilt the timber halls, and in 1444, with public support, they raised the thirteen-story, solid-core brick pagoda. Standing twenty-four meters tall, this tower remains the most prominent structure on the grounds. At the four corners of its bronze finial, copper Garuda birds—guardian creatures believed to ward off floods—catch the sunlight with a metallic glint.

Human hands have constantly reshaped this space. In 1591, Grand Coordinator Chen Yongbin expanded the temple and secured its future by donating permanent farmlands. When the Three Feudatories Rebellion of 1681 reduced the halls to ashes once more, Prince Zhangtai provided funding, and the abbot Shuding supervised the reconstruction, completed in 1684. The rebuilt complex was renamed Jinma Monastery. The current layout, featuring the Shenji Pavilion, the Ayuwang Halls, and the San Taizi Halls, reflects a major reconstruction from 1892, during the reign of the Guangxu Emperor.

During World War II, the monastery is said to have briefly hosted Allied personnel. Decades later, the halls echoed with the laughter of children when the complex became the Jinma Central School.

Today, the monastery is a quiet public sanctuary. Visitors can walk under the cool shade of century-old cypresses, listen to the soft murmur of the nearby Jinzhi River, and touch the rough, carved surfaces of ancient stone steles in the exhibition room. The brick pagoda leans slightly, a physical marker of passing centuries.