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Tsarong Dasang Damdul (tsha rong zla bzang dgra 'dul) was born in 1888 to a peasant family in Penyul ('pen yul), north of Lhasa. He was the second son of four children. His mother's name was Yudron (g.yu sgron). His father, Dondrub Gyelpo (don grub rgyal po), was also known as Aku Dazo (a khu mda' bzo), meaning "Uncle Arrow Maker," because he was a skilled archer and had a business making bows and arrows as well as farming.

Because he was born on New Year's Eve, he was given the name Namgang (gnam gang). When he was five years old his father died and his mother married a cousin of her late husband named Lhundrub (lhun grub). Lhundrub was an abusive spouse who beat both the mother and the children and because of this Lhundrub's well-to-do older sister Somo Nyila (sru mo snyi lags) took the three sons away to live with her in Lhasa, leaving Yudron and her sole daughter to fend for themselves. Her apartment was in a mansion called Karma Sharchen (kar ma shar chen) in the center of the city. 

In 1895, Somo Nyila sent Dasang and his brothers to a small private school run by the aristocratic Pala (pha lha) family. In 1900 a monk official of the Tibetan government called Jinpa (sbyin pa), who was Somo Nyila's friend and advisor, took Dasang on as his pupil and servant. Jinpa was one of the personal attendants of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, Tubten Gyatso (ta la'i bla ma 13 thub bstan rgya mtsho, 1876-1933); after the Dalai Lama noticed the exceptional intelligence of the young man, he was added to the Dalai Lama's personal staff.

In January 1904 the British government in India launched an invasion of Tibet from the Sikkim border with over eight thousand troops. The British force, let by Colonel Francis Younghusband (1863–1942), easily overpowered the ill-equipped Tibetan army, which lost over a thousand men in a series of battles. As the British force marched toward Lhasa, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama fled to Urga (present-day Ulaanbaatar), the capital of Mongolia, with Dasang in his entourage.

While accompanying the Dalai Lama in exile in Mongolia, Dasang learned to speak Mongolian well enough to interpret for the Dalai Lama. In 1906 he received several months of Russian military training. In 1907 the British and the Russians signed an agreement that neither would act in Tibet, ostensibly removing Tibet from the so-called Great Game. As a result, the Dalai Lama and his party left Urga for Amdo. At Kumbum Monastery (sku 'bum) the Dalai Lama bestowed upon Dasang an official government appointment at the rank of Letsenpa (las tshan pa), the fifth rank in the Tibetan government. (There were seven ranks in the Tibetan government, with the Dalai Lama himself holding the first rank.) The Dalai Lama and his party then went to Beijing and finally, in 1909, returned to Lhasa.

No sooner had the Dalai Lama arrived back in Lhasa than he was forced to flee once more, this time to India, in advance of a Chinese invasion of Tibet. The 1904 British invasion had led the Manchu leadership in Beijing to make plans to strengthen their own presence in Tibet.

The Manchu general Zhong Ying (d. 1915) under the orders of Zhao Erfeng arrived in Lhasa in 1910 with his army and immediately occupied the capital. The Dalai Lama and his attendants crossed the Kyichu river (skyid chu) at Ramagang ferry (ra ma sgang). It was during this flight that Dasang distinguished himself heroically and endeared himself to the Dalai Lama. With a detachment of sixty-seven men, Dasang held off the pursuing Chinese forces by engaging them in battle at the Chakzam (lcag zam) ferry crossing. He positioned his men strategically on a hill with many boulders and once the pursuing Chinese troops were fully exposed while attempting to cross the river, the Dasang’s Tibetan rear guard opened fire. Holding the Chinese force at bay for several days, when the battle was over, about one hundred and seventy Chinese and eleven Tibetan soldiers lay dead. Dasang then dispersed the remainder of his troops and made his own escape to India to join the Thirteenth Dalai Lama in exile.

Rejoining the Dalai Lama in Darjeeling, Dasang became an important member of the Dalai Lama's inner circle. The Dalai Lama sent him for military training at the British Army headquarters at Lebong in Darjeeling.

Meanwhile, the Republican revolution in China had reached Lhasa and the city was divided into two zones; the Tibetans held the northern part and the Manchu army held the southern part. The Dalai Lama gave Dasang the title of Chida (spyi mda), or commander general, and sent him back to Tibet to organize the resistance against the Chinese, a task deemed opportune by the collapse in China of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. Dasang recruited volunteers for his army at Ganden Chokhor Monastery (dga' ldan chos 'khor). He initially led them to Shigatse, about two days' horse ride away, where they helped the local Tibetans take the fort back from the Chinese. Back in Lhasa Dasang set up his headquarters at Punkhang House (phun khang). He consolidated the Tibetan forces, coordinated with the monks of Sera Monastery (se ra) and drove the Chinese out of Tengyeling Monastery (bstan rgyas gling), a Chinese stronghold. Defeated, and running out of supplies, the Chinese forces surrendered through the Nepalese representative in Lhasa, who were then sent back to China via Calcutta. It is reported that Dasang allowed the Chinese officers to retain their personal firearms. In the fall of 1912, Dasang welcomed the Dalai Lama back to Tibet at Samding (bsam sdings), in southern Tibet.

In 1913 Dasang was given the title of Dzasa (rdza sa), a ranking only below that of cabinet minister, or Kalon (bka' blon), and with his position as Chida, he became known as Chidza (spyi rdza), a contraction of the two titles. The Dalai Lama also ennobled him with the estates of the Tsarong family (tsha rong). The late Tsarong Shabpe, Wangchuk Gyelpo (tsha rong zhabs pad dbang phyug rgyal po), Wangchuk Gyelpo (tsha rong zhabs pad dbang phyug rgyal po) had been accused of collaborating with the Chinese forces during the occupation of Lhasa, and just prior to the return of the Dalai Lama in 1912, he and his son, Samdrup Tsering (bsam grub tshe ring, 1887–1912), had been executed. (Some scholars have preferred to use the term “assassinate” to indicate that the killing was not carried out in response to a formal judicial sentence, but was spontaneous and personally motivated.) With the Dalai Lama's consent, Dasang took the widow of the late Shabpe's son, Rigdzin Chodron (rig 'dzin chos sgron), as his first wife and the Shabpe's daughter Pema Dolkar (pad+ma sgrol dkar, 1892–1957) as his second wife. With the extensive Tsarong estate at his disposal, Tsarong Dasang Damdul was now ennobled and enriched, establishing his standing within the community of the Tibetan aristocracy.

The Dalai Lama instructed Tsarong to organize a modern Tibetan army, while Sonam Wangpel Laden (bsod nams dbang 'phel legs ldan,1876–1936) was brought up from Darjeeling to organize the police force. Tsarong recruited the first fifty men and trained them himself, even keeping them at Tsarong House while new army barracks were being built near Norbulingka (nor bu gling ka). Twenty-five of these men became mounted guards for the Dalai Lama, the first such security service. When new battalions were formed, they were numbered according to the Tibetan alphabet: Ka 1; Kha 1; Ga 1 etc. The first three regiments had one thousand men each, including the Dalai Lama's special bodyguard battalion, and the remaining regiments had five hundred men each. The Tibetan army ultimately numbered ten thousand trained soldiers.

In 1915, the Dalai Lama promoted Tsarong to the Kashak (bka' shag), the administrative center of the Tibetan government and the highest office beneath the Dalai Lama, the regent and the Lonchen (blon chen), or Prime Minister. The four Shabpe (zhabs pad)—a title synonymous with Kalon—of the Kashak often held the office for life. Tsarong was also made Commander-in-Chief of the Tibetan Army (dmag spyi che ba). He was now not only one of the richest men in Tibet, but also one of the most powerful.  In 1916, Tsarong organized a great military parade in Lhasa that showcased the strength of the modern Tibetan army. He also became head of the Mint, and set up a new mint at Norto Lingka (nor stod gling ka), near Norbulingka. In 1917, the first Tibetan gold coin "sertam" (gser tam) was minted here.

Between 1916–1918, Tsarong strengthened the military and countered Republican Chinese activities in Kham, regaining some territory lost in previous incursions. In 1918, at a meeting in Chamdo attended by Eric Teichman (1884–1944), the British Consul stationed in Chengdu, the Tibetans and the Chinese agreed on a new demarcation line drawn at the Drichu, or upper Yangze River. This agreement gave legal claim over most of Kham to the Chinese Republican state, which set about organizing the short-lived Xikang Province.

The 1920s was an era of modernization in Tibet, encouraged and funded by the Dalai Lama. A hydroelectric plant was built, bringing electricity to Lhasa for the first time. The first telegraph office was also established. An English school was opened in Gyantse.

After Rigdzin Chodron, the widow of Samrub Tsering, left Tsarong House to become a nun, he married again, to Pema Dolkar's sister Tseten Dolkar (tshe brtan sgrol dkar), who was the widow of Horkhang Dzasa Phuntsok Wangchuk (hor khang phun tshog dbang phyug, b.1875). In 1927 he married the third sister, Rinchen Dolma (rin chen sgrol ma, 1910–2000) who, after bearing Dasang a son to secure the lineage of the family, was released from marriage by Dasang, and subsequently married Jigme Taring (phreng ring 'jigs med) and became part of the Taring family (phreng ring)

Tsarong's modernization efforts were opposed by a large faction of the Tibetan aristocracy as well as the large monastic estates around Lhasa, and Tsarong's proposal to triple the size of the Tibetan army further alienated them. Over the next several years, there were several incidents leading up to Tsarong's dismissal as Commander-in-Chief of the army as well as the weakening of the military.

In March 1921, the Tibetan National Assembly held a meeting to discuss the issue of raising taxes on various government holdings for expenditure related to the army. The anti-military faction had managed to exclude all military officers from the meeting; several outraged officers went to the Assembly to confront them on the choice of delegates. They lost their bid to be heard, and in the end the Dalai Lama demoted two of the most capable officers. Scholar Melvyn Goldstein suggests this was a warning to Tsarong to attend more closely to the power of traditional forces.

That same year there was an incident with the monks of Drepung Loseling College ('bras spungs blo gsal gling grwa tshang), which at the time housed 4,000–5,000 monks. The Drungyik Chenmo (drung yig chen mo), or Secretary General of the Yiktsang (yig tshang)—the government ministry in charge of monk officials—had arrested three of the managers of Drepung Loseling over an issue of estate ownership; although scholars have suggested that in fact this was done to punish Loseling for supposedly collaborating with the Chinese in 1910–1912. Infuriated, the Loseling monks held a demonstration in Lhasa, trespassing into Norbulinka. That night, Tsarong and the military faced down the monks and forced them to hand over about sixty ringleaders, which pleased the Dalai Lama but only made the monastic faction more averse to the military.

Three years later, in May 1924, there was a fight between two army officers and a group of Lhasa policemen, resulting in the policemen being stabbed to death. Tsarong punished his officers harshly: one offender's ear was cut off while another's leg was amputated, leading to his death. Since the Dalai Lama had previously banned both amputation and capital punishment, those in the anti-modernization faction of the Tibetan government took this incident as evidence that Tsarong's arrogance and strength were growing too great. The Dalai Lama ordered an investigation, headed by the Drungyik Chenmo. Tsarong refused to cooperate, and military officers sent a petition to the Dalai Lama to pardon Tsarong. There is evidence that some members of the military were also plotting to take military action and possibly assassinate the Drungyik Chenmo.

In September 1924 the political situation had grown tense, with rumors circulating of an impending coup against the Dalai Lama's government. Tsarong wisely left for India with his family for a pilgrimage, and during his absence the Dalai Lama demoted his allied military officers on various pretexts. On Tsarong's return from India and Nepal, in April 1925, the Tibetan Government sent a special messenger with an order stripping Tsarong of his command of the army: "By the order of His Holiness the Dalai Lama we have decided that the second-in-command, Dzasak Drumpa (dza sag bhruM pa, 1898–1930), can carry on the work of the Army headquarters as there is no anxiety in the country at the moment, so we need not [have] a Commander-in-Chief," although there is evidence that Tsarong’s demotion was part of a larger plot by the cabinet minister Lungshar (lung shar) to seize power himself and who thus needed Tsarong removed from a position of authority. Tsarong retained his post in the Kashak, a fact that suggests that the Dalai Lama had not found any evidence of a plot against his government involving Tsarong as was rumored. Nevertheless the military had been effectively weakened, and never regained its former strength.

In 1930 Tsarong was demoted from his post in the Kashak. However in 1931, when the government established a new mint at Drapchi (gra phyi), Tsarong was appointed head of the mint along with Kunpela (kun 'phel lags, b.1905), a favored confidant of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama.

In 1933, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama passed away and in 1934, the Fifth Reting, Tubten Jampel Yeshe Tenpai Gyeltsen (rwa sgreng sprul sku 05 thub bstan 'jam dpal ye shes bstan pa'i rgyal mtshan, 1912/1919–1947) assumed the regency. Tsarong was offered and declined a Kashak post by the regent. He was still in the National Assembly and continued to have influence and status. Tsarong would proceed to host several foreign visitors to Lhasa, including Theos Bernard (in 1937), and members of the Ernst Schäfer Expedition (in 1939). In 1946, when Peter Aufschnaiter and Heinrich Harrer arrived in Tibet having escaped from a prison camp in India, Tsarong likewise invited them to stay at Tsarong House, which became their home for two years.

In October 1949, the Chinese Communists won the civil war in China and Radio Peking announced that the People's Liberation Army would next move to fully encorporate Tibet and Taiwan into the new Communist state. By the summer of 1950, Chinese troops were attacking eastern Tibet. Many aristocrats sent their wives and children to safety in India, and some members of Tsarong's family also left. On May 23, 1951, the Seventeen-Point Agreement was signed between the Tibetan and Chinese representatives in Beijing. In April 1956, the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region, the local representative government, was established, with Tsarong as a member.

On July 17, 1957, Tsarong's wife Pema Dolkar passed away. Tsarong, taking a leave of office, went with his son Dundul Namgyel (bdud 'dul nam rgyal) to India. In 1958 following the apparent abduction of the Paṇchen Lama by the Chinese Communist government, members of the Tibetan government loyal to the Fourteenth Dalai Lama recruited Tsarong to help plan the escape of the young leader, and so he returned to Tibet, leaving behind his daughter Kunzang Lhakyi (kun bzang lha skyid) and his son Dundul Namgyel.

On March 10, 1959, the revolt of Lhasa began and the Fourteenth Dalai Lama fled into exile in India, while Tsarong organized the rear guard as he had done forty years earlier for the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. The leaders of the National Assembly and other Tibetan political figures were imprisoned in the Chinese army headquarters. Tsarong died in prison three months later, on May 14th, 1959.

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