Quotes From the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra
(Sutra on the Lion’s Roar of Srimala), Vol. 1
[Queen Śrīmālā said to the Buddha:] “World-Honored One! It is not due to the destruction of dharmas that the extinction of suffering is so named. The term ‘extinction of suffering’ designates that which is beginningless, unconditioned, non-arising, inexhaustible, separate from exhaustion, everlasting, inherently existent, pure and undefiled, and separate from the stores of all afflictions. World-Honored One! The Dharma-Body of the Tathāgata is not separate from, free from, or different from the attainment of the inconceivable Buddha Dharmas, which are more numerous than the sands of the Ganges River. World-Honored One! This Dharma-Body of the Tathagata, when it is not separate from the stores of afflictions, is called the tathagatagarbha.”
Translation of the scriptural passage was adapted from Diana Paul’s rendition, p.36 [Paul, D. (2004)]
Excerpts From A Discourse on the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra
Venerable Xiao Pingshi
“However, this inconceivable Dharma-Body of the Tathāgata has already existed on the causal ground, wherein it is already extremely inconceivable but co-exists with afflictions. These afflictions include (1) the boundless and countless higher afflictions, (2) the boundless and countless habitual seeds of afflictive hindrances, and (3) the afflictions present in ordinary people who have not eliminated the notion of self-view, including the “afflictions abandoned through vision” and the “affliction eradicated through cultivation.” Even so, however, this Dharma-Body is still a mind that is inherently free from defilement. For this reason, it is said that this Dharma-Body of the Tathāgata is not separate from the storage of the seeds of afflictions when it is on the causal ground. Therefore, it is called the storehouse of the Tathagata (tathagatagarbha).
A Discourse on the Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra, Vol. 4, p. 207-208