Learn Farsi: به جای اینکه به آشوب فکر کنید، تمرین شما در صومعه قضاوت نکردن است. - Instead of thinking about the chaos, your practice in the monastery is not judging.

In Farsi, you can use the infinitive of a verb to act like an English gerund (an "-ing" word acting as a noun). For the compound verb قضاوت کردن (to judge), you make it negative by adding the نـ prefix to the verb part, giving us قضاوت نکردن (not judging). It functions perfectly as the noun complement in the sentence: "your practice is [not judging]."

Why do we use the subjunctive فکر کنید in the first half of the sentence, but the infinitive قضاوت نکردن in the second half?

The first half uses the conjunction اینکه (that) as part of the phrase به جای اینکه (instead of). This construction requires a conjugated verb in the subjunctive mood to describe a hypothetical action. The second half is a simple "A is B" statement. Since "B" is the abstract concept of "not judging", we use the negative infinitive قضاوت نکردن as a verbal noun rather than conjugating it.

Why does the sentence use به آشوب instead of درباره آشوب for "about the chaos"?

The verb فکر کردن (to think) traditionally pairs with the preposition به (to) when you are talking about directing your thoughts toward something. While using درباره (about) would be understood, native Farsi speakers typically say "to think to something" (به چیزی فکر کردن).

Where does the location phrase در صومعه (in the monastery) fit into the grammar of the second clause?