It means that people cannot escape the reality of death, and warns the living to cherish life and let go of their attachment to short life.
The couplets from St. Michael’s Catholic Cemetery in Happy Valley, Hong Kong: The first couplet: Today my body returns to my homeland, the second couplet: The body of another emperor will be the same.
A Latin verse written by the author Charlemagne's teacher
Latin "Quod nunc es fueram,famosus in orbe,viator,et quod nunc ego sum,tuque futurus eris."
St. Michael's Cemetery Chapel St. Michael's Cemetery Chapel (English: St. Michael's Cemetery Chapel) is a Hong Kong Catholic chapel managed by the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. Located in Happy Valley (Happy Valley Catholic Cemetery), Hong Kong. Established in 1916. From 1954 to 1965, he was the priest of St. Margaret's Church in Happy Valley.
Charlemagne or Charles the Great (742 AD - 814 AD), also known as Charlemagne, Charles the Great, Karl the Great (German: Karl der Gro?e), Carolingian King of the Frankish Kingdom, founder of the Roman Empire. He established the vast empire of Charlemagne that encompassed most of Western Europe.
In 800 AD, Pope Leo III was crowned "Emperor of the Romans". He has made outstanding achievements in administration, justice, military system and economic production, and vigorously developed cultural and educational undertakings. It was he who introduced European civilization, and he was honored as the "Father of Europe" by later generations.
Extended information:
"Today my body returns to my homeland, and the body of others will be the same" is the same as the Buddhist Zen Master Zhigong's "Essay on Encouraging the World to Recite the Buddha": "I see others die, My heart is as hot as fire. I don’t warm others. Let’s see if it’s my turn.” The opinions are very similar.
"Life and death" means that all sentient beings are born and die, and die and are reborn due to delusion. There is a distinction between staged life and death and changing life and death.
Buddhism lists the pain of life and death as one of the four or eight sufferings. Or the life phase can be divided into four kinds of life: fetus, egg, wetness, and transformation according to its shape; the death phase can be divided into two types: life-end death and outer-peripheral death. There are also those who divide life and death into one-stage life and death and momentary life and death. The former is also called the birth and death of one period, which refers to the moment when a being lives in the mother's womb until it dies at the end of its life; the latter is also called the birth and death of a moment, which refers to the repeated birth, existence and death of the body and mind in every moment of this life.
Reference materials: Baidu Encyclopedia - Charlemagne
Baidu Encyclopedia - St. Michael's Cemetery Chapel
Baidu Encyclopedia - Life and Death