Gautama Buddha argued that compounded entities and sentient beings lacked essence, correspondingly the self is without essence (anātman). This means there is no part of a person which is unchanging and essential for continuity, and it means that there is no individual "part of the person that accounts for the identity of that person over time".
According to Gautama Buddha, compounded entities and sentient beings lack an inherent essence, meaning there is no unchanging core component responsible for individual identity.