anātman

(Sanskrit; Pāli, anattā). Non-self, the absence of self (ātman); the key Buddhist doctrine that both the individual and objects are devoid of any unchanging, eternal, or autonomous substratum. It is one of the three ‘marks’ (lakṣaṇa) or attributes of all compounded phenomena (the other two being anitya and duḥkha). Some Buddhist schools, such as the Vātsīputrīya and the tradition associated with the Nirvāṇa Sūtra, did accept the existence of some form of the self, often identified with Buddha-nature.