A country boy standing to embrace a spiritual leader (5,4)
I believe the answer is:
dalai lama
'a spiritual leader' is the definition.
(Tibetan spiritual leader)
'a country boy standing' is the wordplay.
'a country' becomes 'amalia' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'boy' becomes 'lad' (informal term for boy).
'standing' says the letters should be written backwards (in a down clue, letters stand up).
'amalia'+'lad'='amalialad'
'amalialad' backwards is 'DALAI LAMA'.
'to embrace' acts as a link.
This may not be right. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dalai lama that I've seen before include "Tibetan exile" , "Titular Tibetan" , "Spiritual leader of Tibetans" , "Former Tibetan ruler" , "World's Buddhist leader, once ruler of Tibet" .)